Nimitz class aircraft carrier

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 Ship Systems and will enter service in 2008. Bush will be the first transition ship to a new class of carriers (CVNX) 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.

General characteristics

• Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding Company, Newport News, Virginia
• Power Plant: Two A4W reactors[?], four shafts
• Length: 333 meters (1092 feet) overall
• Flight Deck Width: 76.8 meters (252 feet)
• Beam: 41 meters (134 feet)
• Displacement: 98,500 tons full load
• Speed: 30+ knots
• Aircraft: 85
• 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
• 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
• Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) (under construction)
• George H. W. Bush (CVN 77) (under construction)