Nimitz-class

(PD) Photo: United States Navy
The Nimitz Task Group from 1976 with USS South Carolina (CGN-37) (top), USS Nimitz (CVN-68) (center), and USS California (CGN-36) (bottom).

In the United States Navy, the ten ships of the Nimitz-class are its major aircraft carriers. The Gerald R. Ford-class carriers, entering construction, will supplement them. They followed the one-of-a-kind USS Enterprise (CVN-65), built in 1961, though several conventionally powered carriers entered service thereafter. By now, all of the conventionally powered aircraft carriers of the U.S. Navy have been decommissioned, leaving only nuclear-powered carriers for the U.S.

Ships

This class of aircraft carriers is named after its lead ship, the USS Nimitz. That ship, in turn, memorializes Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.

• USS Nimitz (CVN 68)
• USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69)
• USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70)
• USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71)
• USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72)
• USS George Washington (CVN 73)
• USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74)
• USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75)
• USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76)
• USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77)

CVN 77, USS George H.W. Bush, is intended as a transition between the Nimitz and Ford classes. New features include:

1. Passive Jet Blast Deflector: Redesigns and new materials mean reduced maintenance costs.
2. Redesigned island: Improve flight deck access and reduce signature and electronic self-interference.
3. Other Signature Reduction: Curved flight deck edges, enclosed antenna farms, smaller islands and internal aircraft elevators add up to maximum stealth.
4. Aircraft Pit Stop: Semi-automated refueling and servicing in a new configuration and deck location provides faster, more efficient airwing pit stops and requires fewer people.
5. Redesigned Hangar Deck: New designs reduce clutter.
6. Manpower Reductions: Technology, space rearrangement, operational procedure changes, advanced sensor technologies and condition-based maintenance systems all allow for a smaller, specially-trained crew. Material movement devices, semi-autonomous, gravity compensated weapons handling devices, damage control automation systems and components will reduce the ship's crew and costs.
7. Reconfigurable Spaces: Life-of-the-ship modular construction designs provide flexibility and reduce cost.
8. Expanded Bandwidth: More onboard (Local area network_ and offboard capability gives the ship a communications edge.
9. Zonal Electrical Distribution Systems: Isolate the potential for problems and minimizes the effect on the rest of the ship; crew laptops and other personal electronics, on- and off-duty, have greatly increased electrical demand

Characteristics

• Builder: Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding., Newport News, VA.
• First Date Deployed: May 3, 1975 (USS Nimitz)
• Propulsion: Two nuclear reactors, four shafts
• Length: 1,092 feet (332.85 meters)
• Beam: 134 feet (40.84 meters)
• Flight Deck Width: 252 feet (76.8 meters)
• Displacement: Approximately 97,000 tons (87,996.9 metric tons) full load
• Speed: 30+ knots (34.5+ miles per hour)
• Crew:
  • Ship's Company: 3,200
  • Air Wing: 2,480.
• Armament: Multiple NATO Sea Sparrow, Phalanx close-in weapons system, and RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) mounts.
• Aircraft: Approximately 60+.

Electronics

• AN/SPS-48E [r]: Add brief definition or description 3-D
• AN/SPS-49(V)5 [r]: Add brief definition or description
• AN/SPS-67 [r]: Add brief definition or description surface search
• AN/SLQ-25 [r]: Add brief definition or description
• AN/SLQ-32(V) [r]: Add brief definition or description

Typical air wing

• 4 squadrons of F-18 Hornet and F-18 Super Hornet; some to be replaced by F-35C Lightning II.
  • Some F-18 are equipped for air refueling
• Airborne early warning squadron flying E-2 Hawkeye
• Helicopter squadron: these have typically been SH-60F Oceanhawks, but will be replaced with a next generation of MH-60S Knighthawk utility and mine countermeasures with MH-60R Seahawks for antisubmarine work
• Electronic warfare detachment flying EA-6B Prowlers; to be replaced by EF-18 Growler; probably some unmanned aerial vehicle
• Carrier onboard delivery aircraft making trips from shore