American carriers

QUICK LINKS

USS George Washington (CVN 73)

The USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (CVN 73) is a nuclear powered aircraft carrier built by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company of Newport News, Virginia. The keel was laid on August 25, 1986 and the ship was commissioned on July 4, 1992. Two nuclear reactors are used for propulsion (the ship is capable of steaming more than one million miles before refueling) turning 4 five bladed screws that weigh 66,220 pounds each. The GW can travel at speeds over thirty knots and is 1,094 feet long, 257 feet wide and has a height equal to a twenty-four story building (244 feet). The ship can accommodate approximately 80 aircraft and has a flight deck 4.5 acres in size, using four elevators that are 3,880 square feet each to move planes between the flight deck and the hangar bay.With a combat load, the GW displaces almost 97,000 tons and carries over 6,000 crew members. It can distill 400,000 gallons of water and serves 18,000 meals per day. There are over 2,500 compartments on board requiring 2,520 tons of air conditioning capacity (enough to cool over 2,000 homes). The ship uses two anchors that weigh 30 tons each, with each link of the anchor chain weighing 360 pounds.

General characteristics
Keel laid	25.8.1986
Commissioned	4.6.1992
Power plant	Two A4W nuclear reactors
Steam turbine engines	Four, General Electric
Speed	More than 30 knots	55.6 km/h
Propellers	Four, five blades each
Width of propeller	66,220 lb	30,028 kg
Anchors	Two
Weight of anchor	66,140 lb	30,000 kg
Weight of anchor chain link	360 lb	163.3 kg
Aircraft elevators	Four
Size of elevator	3,880 sq. ft	360.5 sq. m
Catapults	Four
Arresting gear cables	Four
Aircrafts	80+
Length	1,094 ft	333.5 m
Width	257 ft	78.3 m
Height, keel to mast top	244 ft	74.4 m
Area of flight deck	4.5 acres	18,211 sq. m
Max. displacement	About 97,000 tons
Crew	About 6,000 (with airwing)
Armament	Sea Sparrow guided missiles (3x8 missiles), four antimissile systems Phalanx CIWS

Jirka Wagner