# What are these things around the numbers on an aircraft carrier? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 8, 2026, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-around-the-numbers-on-an-aircraft-carrier/1028291 "2026-03-08T05:06:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-around-the-numbers-on-an-aircraft-carrier/1028291/1 "2026-03-08T05:06:15Z")
At first I thought they were some crazy overkill of large fasteners holding up physical letters (which didn’t make sense) but now I think they might be a crazy overkill of electric lights around painted numbers? > **[US to reportedly deploy USS George HW Bush to Mediterranean | The Jerusalem Post](https://www.jpost.com/international/article-889183)** > > The Ford carrier strike group crossed the Suez Canal on Thursday, while the USS Abraham Lincoln is stationed in the Gulf. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-around-the-numbers-on-an-aircraft-carrier/1028291/2 "2026-03-08T05:19:33Z")
Do you mean what they are made of or what their purpose is? If the former I have no clue, but at least during World War 2, there were instances where pilots tried to land on the wrong aircraft carrier, so this might be some relatively cheap insurance to try to make sure it doesn’t happen. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-around-the-numbers-on-an-aircraft-carrier/1028291/3 "2026-03-08T05:21:05Z")
They are very, very bright lights. Google “USS George W Bush at night.” ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-around-the-numbers-on-an-aircraft-carrier/1028291/4 "2026-03-08T13:17:25Z")
Here’s a night showing them lit up. [36183292786\_f500e2dfbe\_b.jpg (1024×576)](https://live.staticflickr.com/4302/36183292786_f500e2dfbe_b.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-around-the-numbers-on-an-aircraft-carrier/1028291/5 "2026-03-08T13:55:54Z")
So the US Navy shops at the same lighting store as the casinos in Las Vegas? ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-around-the-numbers-on-an-aircraft-carrier/1028291/6 "2026-03-08T14:00:10Z")
The older carriers used weather proof fluorescent tube units to spell out the number. The USS Ford is probably using much higher tech LEDs what are brighter as lower power consumption. I wonder is the older carriers got lighting upgrades during yard periods. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-around-the-numbers-on-an-aircraft-carrier/1028291/7 "2026-03-08T14:05:18Z")
Surely plastering these ladies on the sides of American aircraft carriers will improve America’s standing wherever they appear? [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Vegas_Vickie_2009.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Vegas_Vickie_2009.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-around-the-numbers-on-an-aircraft-carrier/1028291/8 "2026-03-08T22:18:48Z")
So, the ultra bright lighting is for the benefit of enemy subs so they’ll know what carriers they sank? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-around-the-numbers-on-an-aircraft-carrier/1028291/9 "2026-03-08T22:27:06Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I wonder is the older carriers got lighting upgrades during yard periods. I imagine so. It’d be a really easy upgrade. Plus, lights of any sort eventually fail and need to be replaced anyway, and it’s probably easier to replace them with the new sort. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2026, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-are-these-things-around-the-numbers-on-an-aircraft-carrier/1028291/10 "2026-03-08T22:39:32Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > So, the ultra bright lighting is for the benefit of enemy subs so they’ll know what carriers they sank? There not always on, especially during exercises and any time there any worries. If the ship goes to darken ship condition, the number lights go off. > [@Chronos](#): > > I imagine so. It’d be a really easy upgrade. Plus, lights of any sort eventually fail and need to be replaced anyway, and it’s probably easier to replace them with the new sort. It is a series of many dozens of lights for the old system and a very different style, so it would be a full swap, not a partial. The lights got replaced by either the Flight Deck Electrician Mates (the only shop I wasn’t part of) or by the yardbirds\* when we’re in port and work like that is being done. \* Yardbirds are civilians that work on the ship in port. ETA: Come to think of it, the Yorktown has the old style lights, I’ll see if I can find a picture of them or maybe some old pictures of the USS Ranger.