USS Freedom : The coolest thing you'll see today
 

USS Freedom just passed us going down the St-Lawrence river. Doing 39 kts to our 13... I still managed to get some pictures. I'll post them in a minute; they're downloading right now.

That thing is awesome. Seriously, just watching it go by, everybody got excited... She was doing 48 kts on Lake Erie the other day; the pilots say they saw her at 50+ on Lac St-Pierre earlier.

The wake on that thing is enough to rock the boat I'm on. We're displacing 35 thousand tons or so right now. Container ships don't usually rock us.

Hi :sunny: That must have been a site. :yep:



http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/1...header3nd2.jpg

Here she is, five miles or so away. We had her at 38.9 kts on the AIS:

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x.../Freedom-1.jpg

Approaching

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x.../Freedom-2.jpg

This makes me wanna sing the theme to Team America. Or soil my pants. Notice the exhaust plume.

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x.../Freedom-4.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x.../Freedom-3.jpg

Here we go with the PURE AWESOME

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x.../Freedom-5.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x.../Freedom-6.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x.../Freedom-9.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x.../Freedom-7.jpg

Thats a nice looking ship. Fast too, must have been a big wake.:lol:

Some close ups:

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Freedom-13.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Freedom-14.jpg

I think these are some sort of exhaust ports. There are two on the starboard side, I didn't see the port side very well.

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Freedom-10.jpg



Superstructure:

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Freedom-15.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Freedom-16.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Freedom-17.jpg

Is that some sort of drop bay on the stern? Or float-free whatchamacallit, like Landing Ships have? What's the big plate on the stern?

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Freedom-18.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x.../Freedom-8.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Freedom-24.jpg

Ah, yeah... Check this out.



It's hard to see in that picture, but she actually rocked us.

And then another, smaller boat started calling for them to slow down (They would have been SWAMPED) so she went down to 12 kts in like... 200 meters. Seriously, she just died.

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Freedom-22.jpg

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Freedom-23.jpg

And here she goes again. Like somebody threw a switch.

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Freedom-24.jpg

Wow , nice shots

And a last one :

http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x...Freedom-20.jpg

Seriously, that thing looks awesome.

Nice shots, is it just me or does she seem a bit down by the bow?

If she is doing 39+ knots in the bay, wonder what she is really capable of :hmm:

Co-worker said she was showing 48 on the AIS the other night; the pilots says she went up to 50+ on Lac St-Pierre - Numbers like 60 and 70 are being bandied about, but we're just talking out of the wrong hole, really.

I'm betting 65.

One fast ship, amasing how fast they can go.:yep: It would be one H*** of a speed boat.:D

Thanks for posting those great pics.

Q. How loud was it and what did it sound like?

GREAT pictures!
:rock:

I didn't notice any noise, but then I was on a rather noisy boat about three cables away. I don't recall ever hearing the machinery noise of freighters going by, either.