What happens when you spend 14 billon dollars on a boat? You get some pretty sweet features like:
- 1100 feet long by 134 feet wide
- Two nuclear FREAKIN reactors
- Electromagnetic airplane catapult
- A bunch of missiles and stuff
- Estimated 200 million pound displacement with top speed of 56 km/h
I don’t even know where to start with this one guys. This might be the most overkill weapon system ever built. But that’s ok because 1) it’s awesome and 2) it’s not built yet. Construction started in 2005 and is scheduled to be completed in 2015. The Gerarld R. Ford will actually be significantly bigger than the Nimitz class aircraft carrier (shown in picture) that it is replacing. The United States already has more carriers than the combined countries of the world – so why not build 10 more just to be more badass.
Despite the insane size of a carrier, its planes need a catapult to achieve takeoff speed in the short distance available. Ever gone from 0-264 km/h in 2.1 seconds? The Gerald Ford can launch four 45,000 pound planes at the same time. Just cause.
For pilots though, landing is the most difficult part of carrier operations. Picture this, you are travelling at 67 meters per second, and your runway is 150 meters long. Your wingspan is 40 feet and your landing area is 60 feet wide. To the left the pitch black ocean, to the right a row of fully fuelled and armed planes. Now imagine the runway buckling and heaving through 50 foot waves. Its night and rain has reduced visibility to a few hundred feet. Pilots are expected to be able to smash their jets onto the surface of the deck and snag one of four massive arresting wires in any condition.
The arresting wire can absorb an absolute colossal amount of energy. It can stop a 54,000 lb plane travelling at 240 km/h in about 2.5 seconds. Even then, these cables are known to break on occasion. The foot long diameter steel wire whips across the deck often injuring scores of crewmen and the pilots of the landing aircraft have mere seconds to eject before the plane pitches off the deck of the ship.
I think I’ve done enough convincing. Let’s give it a couple years and all pool in to get a used one. I’ll be supreme admiral and chief squadron commander. Big things rock!
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