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Nimitz class aircraft carrier

The Nimitz class supercarriers are the largest warships in the world. All of the ships in this class are nuclear-powered carrier vessels (CVN).

Nimitz, the lead ship of the class, was commissioned in 1975; Bush, the tenth and last of the class, will be built by Northrop Grumman Newport News and will enter service in 2008. Bush will be the first transition ship to a new class of carriers (CVN-21) to start construction in 2007 and will incorporate new technologies including a new multi-function radar system, volume search radar and open architecture information network, and a significantly reduced crew requirement.

Because of construction differences between the first three ships (Nimitz, Eisenhower and Vinson) and the latter seven (Theodore Roosevelt on), the latter ships are sometimes called Theodore Roosevelt-class aircraft carriers, though the US Navy officially holds no difference between the two groups.

By tonnage, the Nimitz class compose by far the largest class of carriers ever built; the (when CVN-77 George H.W. Bush is completed) ten ships of the class total just under a million tons combined displacement.

Nimitz was the first to undergo its initial refueling during a 33-month Refueling Complex Overhaul at Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia, in 1998.

General characteristics

• Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding Company, Newport News, Virginia
• Power Plant: Two A4W reactors, four shafts
• Length: 333 m (1092 ft) overall
• Flight Deck Width: 76.8 m (252 ft)
• Beam: 41 m (134 ft)
• Displacement: 98,500 tons full load, somewhat less than big cruise ships
• Speed: 30+ knots (56+ km/h) -- in June 1999, the USN publicly released these trial speeds:
  • Nimitz: 31.5 knots (58.3 km/h)
  • Theodore Roosevelt: 31.3 knots (58.0 km/h)
  • Harry S Truman: 30.9 knots (57.2 km/h)
• Aircraft: 85
  • Intended to operate fighter aircraft including the F/A-18, bombers and other military aircraft for many missions including self defense, land attack and maritime strike.
• Cost: about US$4.5 billion each
• Crew: Ship's Company: 3,200 - Air Wing: 2,480
• Armament:
  • NATO Sea Sparrow launchers: two or three (depending on modification)
  • 20mm Phalanx CIWS mounts: Three on Nimitz and Dwight D. Eisenhower and four on Vinson and later ships of the class
  • RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile: Two on Nimitz and Ronald Reagan, will be refit to other ships as they return for RCOH.
• Date Deployed: May 3, 1975 (USS Nimitz)

Ships

• USS Nimitz (CVN 68), San Diego, California
• USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), Newport News, Virginia
• USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), Bremerton, Washington
• USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), Norfolk, Virginia
• USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), Everett, Washington
• USS George Washington (CVN 73), Norfolk, Virginia
• USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), San Diego, California
• USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), Norfolk, Virginia
• USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), San Diego, California
• PCU George H. W. Bush (CVN 77) (under construction)

Nimitz-class aircraft carrier

Nimitz | Dwight D. Eisenhower | Carl Vinson | Theodore Roosevelt | Abraham Lincoln | George Washington | John C. Stennis | Harry S. Truman | Ronald Reagan | George H. W. Bush

List of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy