Carrier Families

The Carriers

General Characteristics, Enterprise Class

Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, VA.
Date Deployed: November 25, 1961 (USS Enterprise).
Propulsion: Eight nuclear reactors, four shafts.
Length: 1,101 feet 2 inches (335.64 meters).
Beam: 133 feet (39.9 meters); 252 feet (75.6 meters).
Displacement: 89,600 tons ( 81,283.8 metric tons) full load.
Speed: 30+ knots (34.5 miles per hour).
Crew: Ship's Company: 3,350 - Air Wing 2,480.
Armament: Two Sea Sparrow missile launchers, three Phalanx 20 mm CIWS mounts.
Aircraft: 85.

USS ENTERPRISE (CVN 65), Norfolk, VA

General Characteristics, Nimitz Class

Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, VA.
Date Deployed: May 3, 1975 (USS Nimitz).
Unit Cost: About $4.5 billion each.
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: Two or three (depending on modification) NATO Sea Sparrow launchers, 20mm Phalanx CIWS mounts: (3 on Nimitz and Dwight D. Eisenhower and 4 on Vinson and later ships of the class.).
Aircraft: 85.

USS NIMITZ (CVN 68), Everett, WA

USS DWIGHT D EISENHOWER (CVN 69), Norfolk, VA

USS CARL VINSON (CVN 70), Coronado, CA

USS THEODORE ROOSEVELT (CVN 71), Norfolk, VA

USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72), Everett, WA

USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73), Yokosuka, Japan

USS JOHN C STENNIS (CVN 74). Bremerton, WA

USS HARRY S TRUMAN (CVN 75), Norfolk, VA

USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN 76), San Diego, CA

USS GEORGE H.W. BUSH (CVN 77), Norfolk, VA

General Characteristics, Gerald R. Ford class

Builder: Northrop Grumman Newport News, Newport News, Va.
Propulsion: Two nuclear reactors, four shafts.
Length: 1,092 feet
Beam: 134 feet, Flight Deck Width: 256 feet.
Displacement: approximately 100,000 long tons full load.
Speed: 30+ knots (34.5 miles per hour)
Crew: 4,660 (ship, air wing and staff).
Armament: Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile, Rolling Airframe Missile, CIWS.
Aircraft: 75+

USS GERALD R FORD (CVN 78) Under construction

USS JOHN F KENNEDY (CVN 79) Construction begins in 2012

Carriers of the Ford class will incorporate fourteen new design features including:

Advanced arresting gear.
Automation, which reduces crew requirements by several hundred from the Nimitz class carrier.
The updated RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow missile system.
AN/SPY-3 dual-band radar (DBR), as developed for Zumwalt class destroyers.
An Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) in place of traditional steam catapults for launching aircraft.
A new nuclear reactor design (the A1B reactor) for greater power generation.
Stealthier features to help reduce radar profile.
The ability to launch the F-35C Lightning II.