Aircraft Carrier: USS George Washington (CVN-73)

Named after the first president of the United States of America, George Washington, the nuclear powered aircraft carrier is the sixth ship in the Nimitz class. She was built by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company and commissioned on July 4, 1992. The USS George Washington was named by the then First Lady Barbara Bush, in 1990. The ship's home port was in Norfolk, Virginia, but was later shifted to the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan.

USS George Washington is best known for its huge size. A few of its impressive facts include:

• A size of about 233 meters in length, 78 meters in width, and as tall as a four-story building in height
• An enormous flight deck of 4.5 acres, which can accommodate about 80 aircraft
• Four elevators to move aircraft from the hangar bay and the flight deck
• Accommodation for 6,250 crew members
• Displacement of about 100,000 tons at full load
• 4 distilling units that can produce 400,000 US gallons of potable water and food divisions that can serve 18,000 meals a day
• Air conditioning capacity of 2,520 tons (2.1 MW)
• Three 20 mm Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS), 2 Sea Sparrow Surface to Air Missile (SAM) launchers and 2 RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missiles

When the US George Washington was commissioned, its hangar bays were painted white to make them appear brighter and larger. The hull numbers of all US Navy carriers are painted in white, so that they are visible at night but, to honor the name, George Washington's hull numbers were outlined with red, blue and white lights.

USS George Washington has made the most number of trips to the Mediterranean Sea (six trips so far). The ship has even played a peacekeeping role in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The most important deployment, however, came in 1998 in the Persian Gulf when its presence compelled Iraq to let United Nations weapon inspectors in the country. In 2000, the ship helped conduct Maritime Interception Operations supporting the UN sanctions against Iraq, and capture 20,000 metric tons of oil smuggled out of the country.

In February 2001, the ship was upgraded with advanced systems at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. Later, in September, after the terrorist attacks in New York, the ship and her air wing provided air defense to the city. The ship was re-deployed in the Persian Gulf for six months in 2002. In 2008, it was decided to replace the USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) - which was stationed in Japan - with the USS George Washington, making it the first nuclear powered carrier to be permanently stationed at the Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan.

On May 2008, a fire in the air conditioning and auxiliary boiler room injured 36 people. The fire spread fast and caused a lot of damage. It took several hours before the fire could be controlled and extinguished. The ship was forced to return to San Diego, California for repairs, delaying its journey to Japan to be the replacement of the USS Kitty Hawk. The fire had caused damage to the tune of about 70 million dollars, which resulted in both the Captain and Executive Officer of the ship being relieved from their duties.

The ship underwent repairs, had a new captain and executive officer appointed, and was ready to sail to its new home port in Yokosuka, but protests from the local people regarding the safety of the ship (caused by the fire) again led to its delay in leaving for Japan. This forced the US to send the Commanding Officer of the Naval Forces to explain to the mayor of Yokosuka about the cause of the fire and assure him about the safety of the ship. The nuclear powered aircraft carrier finally sailed to Yokosuka in August 2008 and has been stationed there ever since.