Managed to get a look around an American Carrier off Portsmouth in 1982 (was waiting to embark on HMS Invincible for a trip to Copenhagen...those were the days..). Mightily impressive beast (can't remember the name). Met some US Marines on one of the decks. Asked how many Marines on board, '500' he said. Role I asked, 'Crowd control' he said. For on shore I asked, 'no, on board' he replied.
Allegedly living areas were grouped by ethnic origin and the Captain had a 24 hour armed guard.
On another tack, they had 80 aircraft on board, an impressive collection.
Invincible had 3 Helicopters and 6 Harriers....
Great run ashore though in Copenhagen. Tannoy not long after docking told us where the local parks were. We sat there at lunchtime and waited for all the female workers to appear, get their tops off and eat their sandwiches....happy days...
