The Navy is, of course, a special pride of any modern naval power. To date, the United States of America unconditionally possesses the most powerful flotilla in the world . It is this country, which is actively claiming world domination, that pays close attention to the technical development of its ships, performing a variety of combat missions in all corners of the planet. This article will examine current US aircraft carriers.
As an introduction
In our modern time, there are only ten states in the world that have aircraft carriers in their naval forces. The undisputed leaders of the conditional rating are precisely the Americans, who have 11 aircraft carriers. The second place was divided between Italy and Spain. These countries have two such ships. The following are China, Russia, France, Brazil, India, Thailand, and Great Britain. All these states have one aircraft carrier each.
Appointment
Modern aircraft carriers of the United States are, in fact, a vivid symbol of power and strength. US admirals refer to these ships as "backbones" of their country's entire navy . In principle, this is easily explainable, since these sea-going vessels are able to remain autonomous for several months in the open sea or ocean, far from their land bases, and also with great speed to move anywhere in the world, to take part in hostilities against absolutely any enemy and at the same time be at a huge distance from him, thereby ensuring a high level of his own security.
Team core
Despite the number of aircraft carriers in the USA now and how many there will be in the future, these ships were, are and will be the basis of the aircraft carrier strike group. Moreover, any such vessel does not have its own powerful defensive weapons and is not adapted for independent actions. Aircraft carrier moves along the water surface under the cover of other ships. A distinctive feature of the strike group is its ability to cover a distance of almost 1,500 kilometers per day and at the same time go unnoticed by a potential enemy.
Wartime tasks
Considering the combat missions of aircraft carriers, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with the mission of the entire aircraft carrier strike group, which was created for:
- Striking at various objects that are located both on the coast and on land.
- Air cover and support for the landing and ground units that carry out their operations in the coastal zone.
- The conquest and retention of absolute superiority in the airspace in the area of the planned military operation.
- Providing air defense of other ships, landing parties, convoys while they are moving along the sea.
- Blockades of the coastal line of the enemy.
- Conducting tactical aviation intelligence.
As a matter of fact, in peacetime, the United States, through the use of air strike groups, shows the world its power and strength in the politically key regions of the world for the country.
American titans
So, let's take a closer look at how many aircraft carriers in the United States. As mentioned above, there are eleven of them. The list of US carriers is as follows:
- Nimitz.
- Dwight Eisenhower.
- Theodore Roosevelt.
- "Carl Vinson."
- "Abraham Lincoln".
- "George Washington".
- "John C. Stennis."
- "Harry Truman."
- "George Bush".
- "Ronald Reagan."
- "Gerald R. Ford."
Now let's get to know them better.
Sixth ship of the Nimitz type
This is exactly the account of the aircraft carrier George Washington. The ship was launched in July 1990. The technical capabilities of the ship allow it to carry about 90 aircraft and helicopters, four cargo elevators are used to lift them directly onto the deck. The total deck area is 18,000 square meters. The aircraft carrier can accommodate about 6,250 people on board. To stop, the ship uses two anchors, each of which weighs 30 tons.
The ship became the first vessel for the United States with a nuclear power plant, which was permanently stationed at a military base in a foreign country. This happened in 2008, when the aircraft carrier was seconded to Japan. In the same year, an emergency occurred on the ship - a severe fire. The crew was able to completely extinguish the fire after only 12 hours, and the amount of damage amounted to about $ 70 million. In this case, 37 people were injured.
Presidential ship
"Carl Vinson" - an aircraft carrier, which entered service in May 1982. The ship is named after the congressman, who for 29 years was the head of the Committee on Armed Forces. The main place of service of the ship was the Indian and Pacific Ocean, as well as the Persian Gulf. The vessel was involved in the filming of the film "The Best Shooter".
After the destruction of Osama bin Laden in the spring of 2011, his body was delivered to this aircraft carrier, and then sent to the waters of the Arabian Sea. And six months later, Barack Obama and his wife attended a basketball game between student teams, which was held on the deck of this marine giant.
Ship for women
In fact, there is nothing offensive in this phrase for male sailors. It’s just that the aircraft carrier Avraam Lincoln became the first vessel of its kind, on which women also received permission to serve. Unfortunately, this was not without tragedy. In October 1994, officer Kara Haltring died during an approach after completing a training flight.
During a military operation in Iraq in 2003, over 16,500 sorties were carried out from a ship.
Aircraft carrier is a place where everything is subject to very precise coordination and order. Since the length of the runway is only 150 meters, the fighters use the so-called catapult for takeoff, which, you can say, literally throws the plane into the air.
But the most important element of the runway is the brake cable. During landing, the pilot must be able to hook on one of four such locking elements. At the same time, the plane lands at full speed. This is due to the fact that in case of failure, he will be obliged to again go on an emergency take-off. By the way, the ship has a so-called red room, in which pilots are on alert 24 hours a day, being ready to take off at any moment to complete the mission.
An interesting fact: twice a day, absolutely every member of the deck crew goes on a march. All these military men go close to each other and examine the deck in detail in order to find various foreign objects that can cause extremely undesirable mechanical damage to an expensive turbine.
ISIS fighter
The aircraft carrier "Harry Truman" was launched on July 25, 1998 with the participation of then President Bill Clinton. The construction of the ship cost the country's budget $ 4.5 billion. It is also worth noting that this American aircraft carrier has a secret reservation and a working resource for 20-25 years.
The first military campaign for the ship was a swim in the Persian Gulf in November 2000. At the end of December 2015, the aircraft carrier took an active part in the operation against the Islamic State terrorist organization. From the deck of the ship, combat sorties were carried out to carry out attacks on the positions of militants. The ship and its aviation wing interacted with the French naval forces, which also participated in the operation in Syria.
Ship of the future
Aircraft carrier of the Ford type is an American warship that replaced the already mentally and physically obsolete Nimitz ships. The commissioning of the new aircraft carrier is planned for 2017.
A distinctive feature of the new vessel is the presence of an electromagnetic catapult on it, which operates using a linear electric motor. The catapult makes it possible to accelerate fighter jets more smoothly and accurately, which reduces the overloads acting on the steel structure of each such expensive airborne.
In addition, a pair of new reactors designed specifically for this aircraft carrier have the ability to produce 25% more electrical energy than previous similar power plants. The resulting power reserve allows the vessel to reload the catapult much faster. The number of service personnel has also decreased, which now amounts to 4660 people. This allows you to reduce the burden on the budget, since this American aircraft carrier will cost the country 4 million cheaper to operate than its predecessor.
Fortieth President of the USA
The aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan became a full member of the fleet in July 2003. The ship has a couple of significant differences from its "counterparts". The first is the availability of three (and not four) high-strength brake cables. The second - the bow of the ship has a bulbous shape, which was done to increase the stability of the entire aircraft carrier.
"Ronald Reagan" is able to carry on board about ninety helicopters and aircraft. The main striking force of the ship is the F / A-18 Hornet general-purpose combat aircraft, which have already been tested many times in practice in various US military operations.
Dirty Aircraft Carrier
It was no coincidence that such a nickname was given to the ship “George W. Bush”, and all this because the vessel very often fails the vacuum system of flushing the toilets. That is, simply put, all 423 toilet bowls of the ship are clogged. The first problems with them arose back in 2011, when an aircraft carrier made his trip to the Persian Gulf to carry out a combat mission.
However, there are positive qualities of this ship. So, in particular, the electronics and communication system has been modernized. Also, the process of refueling is brought to the semi-automatic level. The gas bumpers have been updated on the deck.
Active participant in special operations
Studying the current US aircraft carriers, one cannot ignore the Theodore Roosevelt. This ship was the first of the existing aircraft carriers, which was assembled using a modular design. Each module was built separately from each other, and the installation of all these parts was carried out at a single point by welding. This principle of ship construction allowed to significantly reduce the originally announced deadlines for construction work. As a result, on October 25, 1986, the ship was accepted for military service and became a full member of the US Navy. Since January 16, 1991, the aircraft carrier took part in the fighting in the Persian Gulf. From his deck, 4,200 sorties were carried out, which allowed them to drop almost 5 million pounds of ammunition into enemy territory.
After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the ship went on a military campaign against al-Qaeda, which was based in Afghanistan at that time. On October 4, 2001, destructive rocket attacks from the Arabian waters against militant positions were launched from an aircraft carrier. As a result of the operation, the ship spent 159 days at sea, which set a record for ships staying on the high seas after World War II.
Regardless of how many aircraft carriers in the United States are at the combat post, each of them undergoes regular major repairs on a regular basis. Theodore Roosevelt was no exception in this matter. From the summer of 2009 to the summer of 2013, he stayed at the Newport News Shipbuilding shipyard (Virginia). Thanks to this reconstruction, the ship will be able to stay in the ranks of the US Navy for another 23 years. The total cost of the work amounted to 2.6 billion dollars.
Ship of peace
In conclusion, finishing considering the question of how many aircraft carriers are in the USA, let us pay attention to a ship of this type called the Dwight Eisenhower.
This warship was commissioned in 1977. In the period 1985-1987, the ship was at its first planned reconstruction, and the second was in 2001-2005. For almost twenty years, the aircraft carrier was “peaceful” and did not take part in any military operations. However, in 1991 he was attracted to the war zone - the Persian Gulf. In 2000, the ship provided no-fly zones in Iran during the Southern Watch operation.