United States of America

The U.S. Navy currently operates eleven aircraft carriers, the ten carriers of the older Nimitz class and the USS Gerald R. Ford, the first of the Ford-class carriers. The $17 billion Ford was commissioned into the Navy in July 2017. America’s latest flat-top is 1,106 feet long and displaces 100,000 tons. Despite its size, the carrier can plow through the seas at more than thirty knots, thanks to two A1B nuclear reactors.

Ford has a number of technological improvements baked into the ship, including an Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, which uses electromagnetic propulsion to catapult aircraft into the air. EMALS is a substantial improvement over conventional steam-powered aircraft catapults, reducing wear and tear on the airplane and resulting in a smoother launch for pilots, but it has had significant development issues. Ford is also the first carrier to use the new Advanced Arresting Gear, which reduces wear and tear incurred on aircraft during carrier landings. The two technologies should also result in the carrier’s ability to launch and recover more planes on a daily basis than the Nimitz-class.

The ship will carry a typical 60+ airplane carrier air wing centered around four squadrons of F-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighters but can probably fit at least two dozen more. During the Cold War, Nimitz-class carriers with less deck space and even larger aircraft routinely carried more than 90 aircraft at a time.

Ford-class carriers will eventually replace the older Nimitz ships. The second ship in class, USS John F. Kennedy, was reported by Huntington Ingalls Industries as fifty percent structurally complete as of July 2017. The third ship, USS Enterprise, began advanced construction on August 24th, 2017. Talks are underway to award the contract for the fourth unnamed ship.

In addition to aircraft carriers, the U.S. Navy launched the USS Tripoli, an America-class amphibious assault ship in May 2017, with an eye towards commissioning in 2018. The America-class ships are designed to launch aircraft in support of amphibious landings and can operate a mix of U.S. Marine Corps attack, transport, and utility helicopters, Osprey tilt-rotor transports, and the F-35B Joint Strike Fighter. A third ship, USS Bougainville, is scheduled to begin construction in late 2018.