USS Nimitz (CVN-68)
The USS Nimitz (CVN-68) is a supercarrier of the United States Navy. Starting in late 2011, The USS Nimitz will be stationed at Naval Station Everett in Everett, Washington. It is named after Admiral Chester W. Nimitz.
It is set to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln. Its length is an amazing 1063 feet or 333 meters. It has four steam catapults that can speed up a 100,000 pound plane to 160 mph in 100 meters. It can launch early warning planes, F/A-18 hornets and Super Hornet fighter-bomber aircraft. It is powered by two nuclear reactors and can stay at sea for 24 years without refueling although refueling needs to be done carefully and only in special naval bases. It weighs 100,000 tons. It carries a maximum of 130 McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornets or 85-90 other planes.
USS Nimitz (CVN-68) Media
USS Nimitz Air Power Demonstration
Nimitz operating in the English Channel with HMS Blake in 1975
Nimitz on her first deployment in 1976 alongside nuclear-powered cruisers California and South Carolina
Nimitz (right) alongside HMS Ark Royal at Norfolk Naval Station in August 1978
Nimitz (left) cruising with Independence and Port Royal in the Sea of Japan in September 1997
Lt. Cmdr. David Bynum, a Navy chaplain aboard Nimitz, passes out happy face sponge balls to the students of CSI High School for the Deaf in Chennai, India during a community relations visit in July 2007