QUICK LINKS |
|
|
Commissioned at 11:11am on 11 Oct 1975 at Shipway 11 by Mamie Eisenhower, The USS Dwight
D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) had the ceremonial bottle of champagne smashed over the bow.
"Ike", as is called the Eisenhower, is a Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carrier that
was always on the move (second of Nimitz class). S
Ike carried 5,500 men when underway on a major deployment. The actual ship's company
comprised only about 3,000 men. The other 2,500 men came from the Air Wing personnel. The
ship was a virtual city complete with restaurants (mess halls, actually ...4 of them), a
large library, a hospital complete with doctors, eye doctors ...and NO nurses....several
stores, soda fountains, movies, closed circuit TV studio, radio station, 2 complete ham
radio setups (for phone patches back home for the crew) plus many more conviences of a
community....except!!!... there were NO women!!
On one of the deployments, IKE enjoyed being the second ship in U.S.Naval history to serve
alcoholic beverages for a special occasion. It was deployed an especially long time
without a portcall during the Iranian hostage crises during 1980 and men gained SECNAV
approval to serve 2 beers to every man aboard. USS
Nimitz was the first to do this only a couple of months ahead of us.
General characteristics | ||
Builder | Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Va. | |
Keel laid | 1975 | |
Commissioned | October 18, 1977 | |
Power plant | Two nuclear reactors | |
Planned crew size | 6,287 (including airwing) | |
Length of flight deck | 1,092 ft | 333 m |
Width of flight deck | 252 ft | 76.8 m |
Height keel to mast | 244 ft | 73.8 m |
Area of flight deck | 4.5 acres | 18,211 sq. m |
Displacement | 95,000 tons | |
Max. speed | More than 30 knots | 55.6 km/h |
Number of screws | Four (5-blades, bronze) | |
Diameter of screws | 25 ft | 7.62 m |
Weight of screws | 66,200 lb each | 3,028 kg |
Number of rudders | Two | |
Dimensions of rudder | 29 x 22 ft | 8.8 x 6.7 m |
Weight of rudders | 60,000 lb | 27,216 kg |
Number of anchors | Two | |
Weight of anchors | 60,000 lb each | 27,216 kg |
Length of anchor chain | 1,082 ft | 330 m |
Weight of chain links | 365 lb each | 111 kg |
Weight anchor + chain | 735,000 lb | 333,390 kg |
Number of catapults | Four | |
Aircraft elevators | Four | |
Area of aircraft elevator | 3,880 sq. ft | 360.5 sq. m |
Aircrafts | Approximately 75 (Air Wing 17) | |
Air Wing 17 | VF-103 | 12 F-14 Tomcat |
VAW-125 | 4 E-2C Hawkeye | |
VFA-81 | 12 F/A-18 Hornet | |
VFA-83 | 12 F/A-18 Hornet | |
VFA-34 | 12 F/A-18 Hornet | |
VAQ-32 | 4 EA-6B Prowler | |
HS-15 | 6 H-60 Seahawk | |
VS-30 | 8 S-3B Viking | |
Armament | Three Sea Sparrow missiles launchers (eight missiles each), three Phalanx CWIS mounts. | |
Meals served daily | 18,600 | |
Distillation plant capacity | 400,000 gallons | 15,142 hl |
Number of light fixtures | 29,000 |
Jirka Wagner
Copyright © All Rights Reserved