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USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) is the United States Navy’s third Nimitz-class supercarrier.  The aircraft carrier is named for Carol Vinson, a Congressman from Georgia, in recognition of his contributions to the U.S. Navy.  The ship was launched in 1980, undertook her maiden voyage in 1983, and underwent refueling and overhaul between 2005 and 2009.

Besides deployments in Operation Desert Strike, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Southern Watch, and Operation Enduring Freedom, Carl Vinson was involved in a number of notable events.  The body od Osama bin Laden was buried at sea in 2011 from the deck of Carl Vinson, and that same year, on Veterans Day, she played host to the first NCAA basketball game on an aircraft carrier, between North Carolina and Michigan State.

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Aircraft Carrier Month Special Edition, EMALS

One of the most revolutionary technologies of the U.S. Navy’s Ford-class carriers is the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, that is currently equipped on the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford and is being integrated on the next two Ford carriers currently under construction.

When fully optimized, EMALS will go from a cold start to launch-ready in about 15 minutes.  Steam catapults take hours and significantly more nuclear energy to achieve the same level of readiness—and deplete the ship’s critical freshwater resources to operate. 

The EMALS will enable Ford-class carriers to accommodate 160 sorties per day during normal conditions and an anticipated 270 during wartime operations.  This is an almost 33 percent increase in sortie deployment capability from the Nimitz-class carrier’s capability during peacetime, and a 12.5 percent increase during wartime.  This represents a drastic increase in the lethality and effectiveness of the ship.

Article taken from Defense News – Commentary by: Vice Adm. Lewis W. Crenshaw Jr. (ret.) September 14^th.

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USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) (known informally as “Ike”) is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier currently in service with the Untied States Navy.  Commissioned in 1977, the ship is the second of the ten Nimitz-class aircraft carriers currently in service and is the first ship named after the 34^th President of the Untied States and General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Since commissioning, Dwight D. Eisenhower has participated in deployments including Operation Eagle Claw during the Iran hostage crisis in 1980, as well as the Gulf War in the 1990’s and more recently in support of the U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Currently “Ike” is operating in Atlantic Near Spain.

Information taken from USNI News and Wikipedia

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On November 3, 2014

US Navy F-35C Joint Strike Fighter lands for the first time on USS Nimitz (CVN068)

The F-35 Lightning II is a 5^th Generation fighter, combining advanced stealth with fighter speed and agility, fully fused sensor information, network-enabled operations, and advanced sustainment. 

The Lightning II is a single-seat , single-engine fighter aircraft designed for many missions with advanced, integrated sensors built into every aircraft.  Missions that were traditionally performed by small numbers of specialized aircraft, such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and electronic attack missions can now be executed by a squadron of F-35s, brining new capabilities to many allied forces.

Information taken from Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II website.

Picture taken from USNI News from November 3, 2014

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