USS Nimitz-Class Ships
The USS Nimitz-class is a family of U.S. Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carriers (CVN), among the largest and most powerful warships ever built. They have served as the backbone of U.S. naval aviation power projection since the mid-1970s.
Overview
Type: Nuclear-powered aircraft carrier
Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding (Virginia, USA)
Introduced: First ship (USS Nimitz, CVN-68) commissioned in 1975
• Number Built: 10 (CVN-68 to CVN-77)
Successor: Gerald R. Ford-class (CVN-78+)
Key Specifications
• Displacement: ~100,000 tons (full load)
• Length: ~1,092 ft (332.8 m)
• Beam: 252 ft (76.8 m, flight deck)
• Draft: ~41 ft (12.5 m)
• Propulsion: 2 × Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors 4 shafts, steam turbines
• Speed: 30+ knots (56 km/h)
• Range: Essentially unlimited (20–25 years between refueling)
• Crew: ~3,200 (ship’s company) + ~2,480 (air wing) total ~5,700
Air Wing (Carrier Air Wing, CVW)
Typical complement ~ 60–70 aircraft, such as:
• F/A-18E/F Super Hornet (strike fighter)
• EA-18G Growler (electronic warfare)
• E-2C/D Hawkeye (airborne early warning)
• MH-60R/S Seahawk (anti-submarine & search/rescue)
Armament & Defense
RIM-7 Sea Sparrow and RIM-162 ESSM (short-range SAMs)
RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) launchers
Phalanx CIWS (20mm Gatling gun anti-missile system)
Extensive electronic warfare and decoy systems
Nimitz-class Ships
1. CVN-68 USS Nimitz (1975)
2. CVN-69 USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (1977)
3. CVN-70 USS Carl Vinson (1982)
4. CVN-71 USS Theodore Roosevelt (1986)
5. CVN-72 USS Abraham Lincoln (1989)
6. CVN-73 USS George Washington (1992)
7. CVN-74 USS John C. Stennis (1995)
8. CVN-75 USS Harry S. Truman (1998)
9. CVN-76 USS Ronald Reagan (2003)
10. CVN-77 USS George H. W. Bush (2009, final Nimitz-class ship)
Significance
Represent mobile airbases with unmatched global reach.
Central to Carrier Strike Groups (CSG), projecting U.S. power worldwide.
Their nuclear propulsion grants unlimited endurance, with only food and supplies limiting deployments.
They have participated in almost every U.S. military operation since the Cold War: from the Gulf War to Afghanistan, Iraq, and beyond.
#USS_CVN_68
#USS_CVN_69
#USS_CVN_70
#USS_CVN_77
#SuperCarrier
#WW3
