Aircraft Carriers II (Closed to posting)

Atlanic is becoming important again because in the summer the North West Passage and Central Passage are open for up to 6 weeks and it is estimated that by mid 2020 this could be 8-10 weeks

Russia has lots of icebreakers and the Mistral Class are coming online too, US is pushing for Pacific to rebalance but now they are saying they have to keep balance over in the Arctic areas

Also this is going to increase price tag of new vessals it's estimated that Arleigh Burke unit price will increase by 25% if reinforced hulls are used for cold Arctic misisons

Maybe some of the Flight III will have this capability

bd popeye said:

Actually Nimitz is homeported in Everett WA.

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That is correct. My bad. I believe she was changed back to Everett in 2012, right?

bd popeye said:

Here's the Virginian Pilot spin on the CVN shuffle .. they claim 5 Carriers will remain in Norfolk.

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Well, I heard a rumor from an active Lt. Cmdr I know that said that the Lincoln would go to Norfolk and the Ford would go to San Diego.

I kind of find that unlikely though, at least for a while. Seems like they would want to keep the Ford on the East Coast near the shipbuilder until she is fully worked up and is pronounced fully operational. That probably will not happen unitl 2018 or so.

So, I find your scenario of the Ford in Norfolk and the Lincoln going to the Pacific more likely, which would give us...

...five in the Atlantic, but one of those in ROCH:

USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) - Norfolk, VA
USS George Washington (CVN 73) - Newport News, VA - ROCH
USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) - Norfolk, VA
USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) - Norfolk, VA
USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) - Norfolk, VA

...and six in the Pacific:

USS Nimitz CVN-68 - Everett, WA
USS Carl Vinson, CVN-70 - San Diego, CA
USS Roosevelt CVN-71 - San Diego, CA
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), San Diego, CA
USS John Stennis, CVN-74 - Bremerton, WA
USS Ronald Reagan, CVN-76 - Yokosuka, Japan

Jeff Head said:

Well, I heard a rumor from an active Lt. Cmdr I know that said that the Lincoln would go to Norfolk and the Ford would go to San Diego.

I kind of find that unlikely though, at least for a while. Seems like they would want to keep the Ford on the East Coast near the shipbuilder until she is fully worked up and is pronounced fully operational. That probably will not happen unitl 2018 or so.

So, I find your scenario of the Ford in Norfolk and the Lincoln going to the Pacific more likely, which would give us...

...five in the Atlantic, but one of those in ROCH:

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Jeff, we think along the same lines. If GRF was moved to the Pacific it would be after the USN was sure all the kinks were worked out of the ship which may take a couple of years.

Ronald Regan remained in the Hampton Roads area for one year after her first sea trail.

And just for the sake of compleness here's the LHA/LHD fleet

Pacific has 6 ships

USS Peleliu LHA-5 - Naval Base San Diego California
USS Essex LHD-2 - San Diego California
USS Boxer LHD-4 - San Diego California
USS Bonhomme Richard LHD-6- Sasebo Japan
USS Makin Island LHD-8 - San Diego California
USS America LHA-6 -San Diego California


Atlanic has 4 ships

USS Wasp LHD-1 - Norfolk Virgina
USS Kearsarge LHD-3- Norfolk Virgina
USS Bataan LHD-5 - Norfolk Virgina
USS Iwo Jima LHD-7 - Norfork Virgina

So over all there is 6 carriers and 6 LHD/LHA in the Paciifc total 12 flat tops

And in the Atlanic there is 5 carriers and 4 LHD total 9 flat tops

Total flat tops 21, 11 carriers and 10 LHA/LHD

Moaar cross deck !



French Navy pics

Great photos Navyreco!!!..I started a thread at mp.net on the



Lot's of hits on that thread!

Those E2-C photos..gotta love them. There is no equal in AEW to an E2-C or soon an E2-D..nothing IMO....

E2-D with potential aerial fueling will also be a great increase in capability

Air Force Brat said:

Exactly, and that's one of the reasons that I would encourage China to pursue steam cats as opposed to emals on their indigenous catobar carrier, while emals is kool, it may not be the most effective or reliable system to launch aircraft, these types of events while normal on any new weapons systems are crazy expensive, while providing at best a technological upgrade, nice, but not necessary. I'm sure we have spent a boatload of time and money, ultimately it may be the best thing since sliced bread,,,,,OR NOT???

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US is not selling, China is not buying EMALS. China is developing its own EM cats because it is the only way you can catapult aircraft over a ski ramp. And doing that saves a lot of space on deck. Steam cats just don't cut it.

delft said:

US is not selling, China is not buying EMALS. China is developing its own EM cats because it is the only way you can catapult aircraft over a ski ramp. And doing that saves a lot of space on deck. Steam cats just don't cut it.

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In what sense don't steam cats "cut it"? I made seven deployments and never on any ship I served aboard did the catapult fail to do it job....Never.

asif iqbal said:

Atlanic is becoming important again because in the summer the North West Passage and Central Passage are open for up to 6 weeks and it is estimated that by mid 2020 this could be 8-10 weeks

Russia has lots of icebreakers and the Mistral Class are coming online too, US is pushing for Pacific to rebalance but now they are saying they have to keep balance over in the Arctic areas

Also this is going to increase price tag of new vessals it's estimated that Arleigh Burke unit price will increase by 25% if reinforced hulls are used for cold Arctic misisons

Maybe some of the Flight III will have this capability

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As far as I'm aware the Flt III hulls will not have any strenghtening done although since the first steel hasn't even been cut yet they may add to it but I'm quite positive the design did not consider them.