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Aircraft carriers are owned by nine nations, with the United States owning 12. They are built in drydocks using modular components and cost around $4.5 billion each. The Nimitz-class carrier is one of the most popular types, powered by nuclear reactors and can go years without refueling.
Aircraft carriers are the centerpieces of the world’s most powerful navies. They are owned by nine nations: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, India, Russia, Spain, Brazil, Italy, and Thailand. China owns one, though it is inactive. The United States owns 12. These ships have been instrumental in naval battles since World War II, and they still serve as the most efficient means of rapidly transporting thousands of troops and dozens of combat aircraft to any hotspot in the world. .
Modern aircraft carriers cost about $4.5 billion each. One of the most popular types is the United States’ Nimitz-class carrier, powered by two heavily shielded nuclear reactors. Annual maintenance costs are approximately $250 million.
Nearly all of the US aircraft carriers still in service today have been built at the Northrop Grumman Newport News Naval Shipyard in Newport News, Virginia. Its construction requires approximately 2,000 suppliers representing more than 100,000 workers. Tier 1 suppliers can be found in 48 of the 50 states, according to the Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition, an organization formed in 2005 to lobby for continued funding for aircraft carrier construction.
Like most ships, aircraft carriers are built in drydocks which are then flooded, allowing the finished ship to float. They are built from modular components called superlifts: multi-room, multi-platform objects that weigh between 70 and 800 tons. An aircraft carrier will typically be built with 200 superlifts. The super lifts are lowered into place with a gigantic overhead crane and then welded together. The final piece of the carrier is the island, including the bridge and observation deck, which weighs around 570 tons.
The development of nuclear reactors and other improved naval technologies allowed the construction of supercarriers starting in the 1950s, a little-used term to refer to any warship with a displacement of more than 75,000 tons. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier has a displacement of around 100,000 tons, including 60,000 tons of structural steel. This class can go years without refueling, without efficient nuclear power. The height from keel to mast is 244 feet (~74 m), the height of a 24-story building. The length of the platform is 1,092 feet (333 meters), with a width of 252 feet (77 meters).
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