Paul sent me this link.
For those of us who watch nothing but non-fiction TV, this 10 minute documentary of the USS John C. Stennis launching its air force is nothing new. Given the Navy’s seemingly endless recent missions – Iraq, Indonesia, Katrina, Haiti, Korea, Japan and Libya – it might be worth a watch by those of you who don’t pay attention normally.
We have 10 of these “Nimitz-class supercarriers” – each is a complete, self contained small city with 6,000 people, its own airport and air force and “suburbs” of support vessels.
· These are the largest capital ships in the world.
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)
· The Nimitz was commissioned in 1968, the GHW Bush in 2009. The Eisenhower [1975] cost $680 million and the Bush cost $6.2 billion. They are designed to last 50 years.
· The carriers use two pressurized water reactors – think Japan – for both power and propulsion. They cruise at over 35 mph and refuel every 20 years or so.
· They are made in America at Newport News – I hope you’ve seen the amazing documentaries showing how these things are built.
· The flight deck is 4.5 acres – that’s 3 square city blocks. During operations the deck is one of the most dangerous workplaces on earth. The average age of the deck crew is 19-20.
· A single carrier has an air force greater than that of 70% of the nations in the world.
· In addition to blowing things up, the ships are useful in disasters because the portable cities come complete with hospitals, transportation and 400,000 gallons a day of fresh water.
The United States is the only nation in the world that builds ships of this class. The United Kingdom is building two Queen Elizabeth class carriers which will bring them closer to US capabilities – 72,000 tons vs the Nimitz class at 114,000 tons. The Brits will launch in about 2020 while France is considering building one vessel, possibly based on the same design.
The Soviet Union's 85,000-ton carrier Ulyanovsk was 40% complete when it and a follow-on vessel were canceled in 1991.
Now you know why Chinese military research is focused on “carrier-killer” missiles and satellite killers. America must substantially reduce military spending but we abandon Reagan’s “star wars” missile defense at our peril.
Let’s start by asking Americans to pay for our wars.
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