US Navy Aircraft Carriers

US economy and security depend solely on safeguarding its overseas interests as well as encouraging peace in the world and it is the US Navy's aircraft carriers that serve this purpose. According to a former US Secretary of Defense, William Cohen, "If you don't have that forward deployed presence, you have less of a voice, less of an influence..." He was referring to aircraft carriers.

The vital advantage of these aircraft carriers is that they can roam freely in international waters. Also aircraft carriers don't require permission from the host countries for landing and overflight rights, thus making them a mobile air base. Most of the surface on earth is covered by water, and most of the international waters are covered by the US Navy aircraft carries. One can imagine what an important role they play in US security, from the words of former US president, Bill Clinton, during a visit to aircraft carrier USSTheodore Roosevelt, "When word of crisis breaks out in Washington, it's no accident: the first question that comes to everyone's lips is, where is the nearest carrier?"

From USS Langley to USS George H.W. Bush, US Navy has had many aircraft carriers. Some of the major types of aircraft carriers that the US Navy has had in past are:

• Lexington class
• Yorktown class
• Essex class
• Long hull Essex class
• Independence class
• Midway class
• Forrestal class
• Kitty Hawk class
• Nimitz Class

Currently, US Navy has only the Enterprise class (1 aircraft carrier) and Nimitz class super aircraft carriers (10 aircraft carriers) operating. Totally 11 active carriers in all. Their characteristics are as follows.

Enterprise class

Propulsion	Eight nuclear reactors, four shafts
Length	1,101 feet 2 inches (335.64 meters)
Displacement	89,600 tons at full load
Speed	30+ knots (34.5 miles per hour)
Crew	Ship's company: 3,350 – Air Wing 2,480
Armament	Two Sea Sparrow missile launchers, three Phalanx 20 mm CIWS mounts
Aircraft carrying capacity	85
Active ship	USS Enterprise (CVN-65)

Nimitz class

Propulsion	Two nuclear reactors, four shafts
Length	1,092 feet (332.85 meters)
Displacement	approximately 97,000 tons at full load
Speed	30+ knots (34.5 miles per hour)
Crew	Ship's company: 3,200 – Air Wing 2,480
Armament	Two or three NATO Sea Sparrow launchers, Phalanx 20 mm CIWS mounts(3 on Nimitz and Dwight D. Eisenhower and 4 on Vinson and later ships of the class)
Aircraft carrying capacity	85
Active ships	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 Reagon (CVN-76) USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77)

USS Enterprise is the largest and oldest aircraft carrier in the US Navy. It is sometimes referred to as Big E or Mobile Chernobyl . US is building three more super carriers - USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), CVN-79 and CVN-80. USS Gerald R. Ford will be ready by 2015, as its manufacturing as already begun.

United States alone has 11 super carriers. No other country in the world has as many carriers, not even close to it. Britain has the second largest number of operating aircraft carriers, that is 2 in number. With 11 aircraft carriers operating and many already decommissioned, it clearly showcases the US superiority in water defense frontier. The Americans are indeed pioneers in this field and nobody can doubt this.