World’s Biggest Aircraft Carriers
Monday, 3rd March 2008 by Rob
Following on from January's World's biggest passenger ships post, today we're going to be looking at the largest aircraft carriers on the water. These warships act as mobile airbases, allowing aircraft to be launched as close to the theatre of war as possible.
Starting with the largest, the undisputed Queen of the seas is the USS Enterprise, which takes the title of being the largest naval vessel on Earth (or water!), with a massive length of 342.3 metres.
Enterprise is moored up alongside the almost-as-large USS Harry Truman and Roosevelt. Like the other seven of the Nimitz class carriers, these are 333m long. Roosevelt, nicknamed 'Rough Rider', was responsible for nearly 5000 tonnes of bombs dropped during the first Gulf War.
The Naval Station at Norfolk, Virginia, where these three ships reside when not on active duty, is actually the largest naval base in the World, with 75 ships calling it home - as well as having, incidentally, a huge amount of car-parking spaces!
The USS George HW Bush is the last in Nimitz class, before the new Ford class carriers start being built, and is named for former President Bush. Costing a whopping $4.5 billion, this 333m carrier is on track to be delivered this year. She is seen here in construction at the Northrop Grumman shipyard, also in Norfolk.
(You can see a Microsoft Live Maps birds eye view of it in construction here, but sadly it still isn't compatible with Safari!)
Back in 1957, the largest naval vessel ever built was the Forrestal Class USS Ranger, which measures 319m and is capable of carrying up to 90 aircraft aboard.
Ranger is seen here with Forrestal class USS Independence and the Kitty Hawk class USS Constellation, which have all been decommissioned to the Naval Air Station in Bremerton, WA.
Now taking the role of the Sea, Air and Space museum in New York City, the USS Intrepid saw service from World War 2 right through to 1974, including in the Vietnam war, where planes would often be launched from her in intervals as small as every 26 seconds!
In late 2006 Intrepid was dragged out of the Hudson river's mud (with considerable effort) and transferred to Staten Island for repair work. She is expected to be back on display in September.
The most noticeable of Intrepid's aircraft is the Lockheed A-12, the precursor to the SR-71 Blackbird which is famed for flying from New York to London in 1 hour 54 minutes! You might recognise the plane from 'I am Legend', where Will Smith's character spends time hitting golf balls from her wing.
She may be just a wee tiddler at 214m (this photo shows a comparison between a Nimitz class ship and the HMS Illustrious), but it would be wrong to not include at least one British vessel! HMS Invincible was decommissioned in 2005, and is seen here at Portsmouth Harbour. She's definitely going nowhere - you can see her propellers lying on the deck!
She was superseded by HMS Illustrious - found in dry-dock in Rosyth having a refit, which was completed last year. In 2014, the first of the new Queen Elizabeth class carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth is due to enter service, at a much more substantial 274m in length. HMS Prince of Wales will join her in 2016.
Previosuly on Google Sightseeing: Carrier Landing Practice Runway and Landlocked.
Thanks: Andrew, Kevin, tsw and many, many others! 😀
About the author
do the british not understand that naming a ship the Prince of Wales may not be a good idea? many of them seem to last longer than a decade
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Prince_of_Wales
Just out of curiosity, how can you tell those are the Roosevelt and the Truman? I would assume the Enterprise is detectable because of the extra length, but the other two? I can’t imagine we would put all of Nimitiz class carriers at dock in the same place at the same time.
The numbers on the flight deck are unique to each carrier vessel. For example CV 10 is the USS Yorktown, CVN 77 is USS G.W. Bush. etc etc
Interestingly enough, last week I compiled a list of the locations of all the possible google earth and Live Maps sightings of US Carriers that are still in one piece (with the exception of the Oriskany which is now at the bottom of the gulf, but at the time of the imagery still afloat) see list below, I apologize for the formatting. I have it in excel and it looks nice, but when I copied and pasted it here it went all screwy. I would include direct links to each location, but I haven’t had time. As big as they are if you go to the location you should easily find them.
US Carriers that can be seen in GOOGLE and Live Maps (2/28/08)
Number Name Class Status Location GE Location LM CV 10 Yorktown Essex Museum Patriots Point, Charleston, SCLM-same CV 11 Intrepid Essex Museum New York, NY North River PiersLM-same CV 12 Hornet Essex Museum Alameda NAS, CALM-same CV 16 Lexington Essex Museum Corpas Christi, TX @ north beachLM-same CV 34 Oriskany Essex Sunk for reef Corpas Christi, TX near ViolaLM-Beaumont, TX CVB 41 Midway Midway Museum Not FoundLM-San Diego, CA US Naval Reservation CV 59 Forrestal Forrestal US Naval Station, Middletown, RILM-same CV 60 Saratoga Forrestal US Naval Station, Middletown, RILM-same CV 61 Ranger Forrestal Puget Sound Naval ShipyardLM-same CV 62 Independence Forrestal Puget Sound Naval ShipyardLM-same CV 63 Kitty Hawk Kitty Hawk Active Yokosuka, JapanLM-not enough resolution CV 64 Constellation Kitty Hawk Puget Sound Naval ShipyardLM-same CV 65 Enterprise Enterprise Active Norfolk Naval BaseLM-same CV 67 John F Kennedy Kennedy Mayport Naval Station, FLLM-same CVN 68 Nimitz Nimitz Active San Diego North Island NASLM-same CVN 69 D. D. Eisenhower Nimitz Active Not FoundLM-Norfolk Naval Base CVN 70 Carl Vinson Nimitz Active New Port News dry dockLM-New Port News dry dock, NPN Pier – birds eye CVN 71 Theodore Roosevelt Nimitz Active Norfolk Naval BaseLM-Norfolk Naval Shipyard CVN 72 Abraham Lincoln Nimitz Active US Naval Station, Everett WALM-US Naval Station, Everett WA – birds eye only CVN 73 George Washington Nimitz Active Norfolk Naval Shipyard dry dockLM-Norfolk Naval Base Pier – dry dock birds eye south CVN 74 John Stennis Nimitz Active Not FoundLM-Puget Sound Naval Shipyard – Birds eye only CVN 75 Harry Truman Nimitz Active Norfolk Naval BaseLM-same CVN 76 Ronald Reagan Nimitz Active Not FoundLM-San Diego North Island NAS CVN 77 George W Bush Nimitz Construction New Port NewsLM-same
CVN 76 Ronald Reagan Nimitz Active Not FoundLM-San Diego North Island NAS is on Google community photos seen here : View Placemark
The USS George HW Bush is being built not in Norfolk, but in Newport News, different city that side of the river.
Is that another carrier being built right next to George HW Bush in dry dock? How many aircraft carriers does one country need?
A many as it takes to crush our enemies fool.
“The price of freedom it eternal vigilence!”
The decommissioned carriers are located in Bremerton, Washington. Not San Diego. However, there is a carrier at North Island San Diego.
https://www.googlesightseeing.com/maps?p=1810&c=&t=h&hl=en&ie=UTF8&ll=47.552629,-122.654865&spn=0.005344,0.009313&z=17
I put the wrong link.
View Larger Map
Cheers, turtle – my mistake! Edited.
Next to the George HW Bush you can see the Gerald R Ford (CVN 21), the first of the Ford Class carriers in construction to be deployed around 2015.
It will be the 1st of a new generation of Carriers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_R._Ford_class_aircraft_carrier
Note: I believe it was during Ronald Reagan presidency that US Navy set the strategy to always have 13 Aircraft Carriers on active duty.
I’m no military genius but to me it seems daft to have such a huge aircraft carriers which, God forbid, should ever suffer a fatal attack would leave a big hole in the USA’s military resources. Surely wouldnt it be more practical to have more, smaller carriers that arent such big targets and perhaps wouldnt be missed as much a these huge ones if one was to be lost Perhaps i should write to G W Bush telling him of my idea.
@vanbarel and cookie monster This carrier in dry dock is not G. R. Ford. Construction on CVN 78/ G.R. Ford began in early 2007. See Article Here – http://hamptonroads.com/node/241601
The ship in dry dock is too far along to be Ford.
The dry dock ship is actually CVN 70/ Carl Vinson. The ship is undergoing a Refueling Complex Overhaul (RCOH) See Articles Here – http://www.navysite.de/cvn/cvn70hist.htm and http://www.navsource.org/archives/02/70.htm and very cool video of the flooding of the dry dock in mid 2007 http://www.news.navy.mil/management/videodb/player/video.aspx?id=9538
You can barely see the numbers on the ship in Live Maps Here is the “7” http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=q4yr928mwm2f&style=o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=23597427&encType=1 and here is the “0” http://maps.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=q4yr018mwjq0&style=o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=23597426&encType=1
My previous comment seems to have been eaten, so here goes again. I had been clarifying some of the information on nova72’s list of US Navy carriers.
Midway’s (CV 41) berth in San Diego as a museum ship is currently not visable in Google’s data set, but Yahoo Maps has her, as does Virtual Earth.
And USS Oriskany was not sunk off Corpus Christi, TX, but instead off Pensacola, FL in May 2006. Her location as an artificial reef and dive spot in the Gulf of Mexico is here. She is, however, still afloat in Google’ data set.
@Force of Freedom
Thanks for the clarification on those.
unfortunately there are supposed to be columns and everything should line up, but due the small comment window here i had to try to squeeze things close, did make things a little confusing.
On the list for USS Midway I put “not found” under what is supposed to be the G.E. column.
And for Oriskany, it can be seen in G.E. at Corpus Christi as noted in the link in the above comment, TX and seen in Beaumont in Live Maps.
Here’s a few more carriers:
The Russian-built, now in Chinese possession ex-Varyag: View Placemark
The sister ship, still operational in Russia, is here: View Placemark
The French Charles de Gaulle: View Placemark
The Brazilian (ex-French) Sao Paulo: View Placemark
Italian Giuseppe Garibaldi: View Placemark
I believe the US navy requires 12 carriers on a three per one deployed rotation, but only 11 carrier air groups, as one of the carriers will be in a long nuclear refueling process for quite some time.
In a crisis the UN navy likes to have two carriers available to provide around the clock air capability. The carriers weakness is having only one flight deck crew. They won’t last long without sleeping.
The US navy used to deploy two carriers to the Westpac and two carriers to the Med. Sea. But when we face a crisis in the Persian Gulf, one carrier of each is sent to the Arabian Sea. While one can say the US has too many carriers with 12, in fact, there is barely enough for a peacetime rotation. Carriers and their escorts usually deploy for 6 months at a time.
I”ve read a lot of the comments above, but how many of you guys have actually been ‘Bird Farm’ sailors. I, for one, served on several. e.g. U.S.S. Constellation CV-64, Mid-Pac ’62, Far East Cruise ’63 U.S.S. Forrestal, CV-59, Med. Cruises in ’65 & ’66 U.S.S. John F. Kennedy, CV-67, Med. Cruises in ’69, ’70, ’71, & ’72* (*a 6 month cruise that lasted 10 1/2 months due to our relief ship(s), the U.S.S. Independence, & Saratoga being sent to Vietnam, and the U.S.S Forrestal’s Admiral’s Lounge & C.I.C being set on fire by some disgruntled sailor who was afraid of being sent to Vietnam next!! U.S.S. Midway, CV-41, Forward Deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, ’76-’78 U.S.S. Independence, CV-62, Med. Cruise ’79 & RET-CONUS Cruise ’86 as part of the pre-SLEP team working for Q.E.D. Systems, Va. Beach, VA An Intelligence Officer on the U.S.S. J.F.K. once told me that in the event of WW-III, the life expectancy of a Forrestal Class Carrier was approximately 45 min. Just time enough to get the fighters off to keep the airways open so the bombers could clear the deck. And if ONE of those bombers got to their PRIMARY, SECONDARY, or THIRD priority target [with it’s NECULAR weapon(s)], it was considered WORTH IT!! Now one of you guys try doing 20 yrs. with that in mind!! It damn sure wasn’t for the pay, I can tell you that.
Richard A. Moors, AQ1, U.S. Navy (Retired)
P.S. Newport News Shipyard is just across the river from the Norfolk Naval Shipyard, and can be seen from downtown Norfolk and downtown Portsmouth, VA. They built most of the Nimitz Class carriers that were built in the ’80’s.
Alot of carriers in 1 place on my google earth, the entire atlantic fleet at anchor (£ carriers CVN-71,CVN-75 and CVN-65 , with the 4 LHD Platforms, Plus the vinson and G H W B afloat, near half the fleet there!
I heard from a colleague that the reagan is transitting the Panama Canal in this version fof google earth but i am currently surveying this!
@ Jaz
Where are you talking about? Could you provide a link?
USS Midway CV-41 is clearly visible in San Diego. Forrestal CV-59 and Saratoga CV-60 are both in Newport, RI. Gerald Ford will be CVN-78; the “21” refers to 21rst century aircraft carrier. It will be built in Newport News Drydock 12 (currently google earth image is empty). The carrier in Drydock 11 is Carl Vinson and George Bush is on the outfitting pier. Yes, I’ve served on 5 of them including plenty of time in Norfolk Naval Shipyard (where you’ll find GW in Drydock on GE) and Newport News. I’m a 23 year veteran Aviation Boatswain’s Mate (flight deck yellow shirt) on active duty.
Oh yeah, concerning the Panama Canal. A modern aircraft carrier does not fit in the Panama Canal. That includes all currently in service.
only an american can write something like this: “Starting with the largest, the undisputed Queen of the seas is the USS Enterprise, which takes the title of being the largest naval vessel on Earth (or water!), with a massive length of 342.3 metres” That’s off course bullshit, the largest vessel on earth was not built in america and never will be, it was biult in 1979 at Sumitomo Heavy Industries’s Oppama shipyard. (Oppama is not america) then there are the 4 Batillus class built in france. USS Enterprise looks like a toy next to them! Big ships come from everywhere but from the USA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world%27s_longest_ships
@ Matthias: Did you notice the title of this post? It’s World’s Biggest Aircraft Carriers, and the ships you’re talking about are supertankers. Yes, they’re larger, but in this context it’s “off course bullshit”.
In fact, if you were to read your own Wikipedia link you’d see that the largest aircraft carrier in that list is… the USS Enterprise!
Look down about 8 piers and you’ll see the nuclear submarines moored there.
Richard Muise. the french carrier is not charles de gaule its foch laid up before being disposed of.
Michael, actually it is Charles de Gaulle, easilly reconisable due to its island too aft (ugly design IMHO). The Foch is now the Sao Paulo on Brazilian navy, its sister Clemenceau is going to be (or already was) disposed.
If your a venezuelan pilot and you can see the first picture from your cockpit, your dead.
Speaking of George Herbert Walker Bush:
What if basically all racial-minority people would subscribe to the interpretations that George Herbert Walker Bush committed monstrous, racist, hate crimes while he was the President of the United States?
It will eventually come out: it is only a matter of time.
Respectfully Submitted by Andrew Yu-Jen Wang, J.D. Candidate B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996 Messiah College, Grantham, PA Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993
(I can type 90 words per minute, and there are thousands of copies on the Internet indicating the content of this post. And there are at least hundreds of copies in very many countries around the world.)
â??If only it were possible to ban invention that bottled up memories so they never got stale and faded.â?? Off the top of my headâ??it came from my Lower Merion High School yearbook.
makes u wonder what carriers are at see when it looks like there all in port im trying to find one at sea …
And which carrier is the one at Norfolk Naval Shipyard, at Portsmouth?
I know this doesn’t really have anything to do with carriers, but does anybody know what something that looks essentially like a very big yacht is doing in HMNB Devonport? View Placemark