The
Nimitz-class supercarriers are a
class of ten
nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in service with the
United States Navy. The
lead ship of the class is named after
World War II United States Pacific Fleet commander Fleet Admiral
Chester W. Nimitz,who was the U.S. Navy's last surviving
fleet admiral. With an overall length of 1,092 ft (333 m) and full-load
displacement of over 100,000
long tons,
[1] they have been the largest warships built and in service.
Instead of the gas turbines or
diesel-electric systems used for propulsion on many modern warships, the carriers use two
A4W pressurized water reactors which drive four propeller shafts and can produce a maximum speed of over 30 knots (56 km/h) and maximum power of around 260,000
shp (190 MW). As a result of the use of nuclear power, the ships are capable of operating for over 20 years without refueling and are predicted to have a service life of over 50 years. They are categorized as nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and are numbered with consecutive
hull numbers between CVN-68 and CVN-77.
All ten carriers were constructed by
Newport News Shipbuilding Company in
Virginia.
USS Nimitz, the lead ship of the class, was commissioned on 3 May 1975, and
USS George H.W. Bush, the tenth and last of the class, was commissioned on 10 January 2009. Since the 1970s,
Nimitz-class carriers have participated in many conflicts and operations across the world, including
Operation Eagle Claw in
Iran, the
Gulf War, and more recently in
Iraq and
Afghanistan.