Nimitz class aircraft carrier

image from : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:USS_Nimitz_1997.jpg

The Nimitz-class supercarriers, a line of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in service with the United States Navy, are the largest capital ships in the world, and are considered to be a hallmark in the United States' superpower status. These ships are numbered with consecutive hull numbers starting with CVN 68. The letters CVN denote the type of ship: "CV" is the hull classification symbol for aircraft carriers, and "N" indicates nuclear-powered propulsion. The number after the CVN means that this is the 68th "CV", or aircraft carrier.

Nimitz (CVN-68), the lead ship of the class, was commissioned in 1975. George H. W. Bush (CVN-77), the tenth and last of the class, was built by Northrop Grumman Newport News and entered service on January 10th 2009. Bush will be the first transition ship to the Ford class, the first ship of which began construction in 2007 and will incorporate new technologies including a new multi-function radar system, volume search radar, an open architecture information network, and a significantly reduced crew requirement. To lower costs, some new technologies were also incorporated into Ronald Reagan, the previous carrier to the Bush, though not nearly as many as will be involved with Bush.

Because of construction differences between the first three ships (Nimitz, Eisenhower and Vinson) and the latter seven (from Theodore Roosevelt on), the latter ships are sometimes called Theodore Roosevelt-class aircraft carriers, though the U.S. Navy considers them to all be in one class.[1] As the older ships come in for Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH), they are upgraded to the standards of the latest ships.

By tonnage, Nimitz class are the largest class of carriers built so far, holding the world record for displacement of any naval war vessel. When Bush is completed, the ten ships of the class will total just under a million tons combined displacement. Although the Nimitz class ships are the heaviest ships in the US fleet they are not the longest ships in the fleet, as that distinction belongs to the carrier Enterprise.

General characteristics
Builder: Newport News Shipbuilding Company, Newport News, Virginia
Power Plant: Two A4W reactors, four shafts
Length: 333 m (1092 ft) overall
Flight Deck Width: 76.8 - 78.4 m (252 - 257 ft 5 in)
Beam: 41 m (134 ft)
Displacement: 98,235 - 104,112 tons full load
Speed: 30+ knots (56+ km/h)
Aircraft: 85 (current wings are closer to 64, including 48 tactical and 16 support aircraft)
Aircraft current in operation on Nimitz class carriers include: F/A-18A/B/C/D/E/F Hornet/Super Hornet, EA-6B Prowler, E-2 Hawkeye, C-2 Greyhound, SH/HH-60 Seahawk, and T-45 Goshawk (non-combat aircraft, used only for training missions when the ships are in port) for many missions including self defense/interception, land attack/close-air support, electronic warfare, maritime strike and air crew training.
Cost: about US$4.5 billion each
Range: Capable of continuously operating for 20 years without refueling
Average Annual Operating Cost: US$160 million
Service Life: 50+ years
Crew: Ship's Company: 3,200 — Air Wing: 2,480
Armament:
NATO Sea Sparrow launchers: three or four (depending on modification)
20 mm Phalanx CIWS mounts: Three on Nimitz and Dwight D. Eisenhower and four on Carl Vinson and later ships of the class, except Theodore Roosevelt and George Washington which have three. (USS Ronald Reagan has none, initially outfitted with Rolling Airframe Missile system during construction)
RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile: Two on Nimitz, George Washington and Ronald Reagan, will be retrofitted to other ships as they return for RCOH.
Date Deployed: May 3, 1975 (Nimitz)

Knock Nevis

image link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Knock_Nevis.jpg#file

The Knock Nevis is a floating storage and offloading unit (FSO) owned by the Norwegian company Fred Olsen Production.[1] It was previously a supertanker and as such held the record for the world's largest ship. As a tanker the ship was known under the names Seawise Giant, Happy Giant, and Jahre Viking.

The ship has a draft of 24.6 m (81 ft) when fully loaded, which makes it impossible for it to navigate even the English Channel, let alone the man-made canals at Suez and Panama

Knock Nevis was built in 1979 at Sumitomo Heavy Industries's Oppama shipyard as Seawise Giant. The ship was built for a Greek owner who was unable to take delivery of the ship.

Size comparison of some of the longest ships. From top to bottom: Knock Nevis, Emma Mærsk, RMS Queen Mary 2, MS Berge Stahl, and USS Enterprise.The shipyard then exercised its right to sell the ship. A deal was brokered with Hong Kong shipping magnate C. Y. Tung, founder of the shipping line Orient Overseas Container Line. A deal was reached, but Tung required the ship's size be increased by several metres in length and 87,000 metric tons of cargo capacity by jumboisation. Two years later, the vessel was launched and named Seawise Giant.

After the refit, the ship had a capacity of 564,763 metric tons deadweight (DWT), a length overall of 458.45 metres (1,504.1 ft) and a draft of 24.611 metres (80.74 ft). She had 46 tanks, 31,541 square metres (339,500 sq ft) of deck space, and was too large to pass through the English Channel.

From 1979 to 2004, she was owned by the company Loki Stream AS. During this period she flew the Norwegian flag.

The ship was damaged during the Iran–Iraq War while transiting the Strait of Hormuz.[9] As a result she was declared a total loss and laid up in Brunei. At the end of the war, she was towed to the Keppel Company shipyard in Singapore, repaired, and renamed Happy Giant. The ship was sailing again in October 1991.

Jorden Jahre bought the ship in 1991 for the sum of US$39 Million. It was at this stage that the ship was renamed Jahre Viking. It was sold in 2004.

In 2004, she was bought by First Olsen Tankers Pte. Ltd., renamed Knock Nevis and converted into a permanently moored storage tanker. On November 30, 2004 the conversion to FSO was completed.[11] The ship is now permanently moored in the Qatar Al Shaheen oil field in the Persian Gulf, operating as an FSO.


Size record

The Knock Nevis rivals some of the world's largest buildings in size
Size comparison of the Knock Nevis (in red) and other ships and buildings:
The Pentagon, 431m (Light Blue)
USS Enterprise, 342m (Yellow)
RMS Queen Mary 2, 345m (Pink)
Hindenburg, 245m (Green)
Battleship Yamato, 263m (Dark Blue)
Empire State Building, 443m (Grey)In terms of length, Knock Nevis has a length overall of 458.45 m (1,504 ft), making her the largest ship ever constructed. The vessel is longer than many of the world's tallest buildings are tall, for example the Petronas Twin Towers at 452 metres (1,480 ft). She is smaller than the Sears Tower at 527.3 metres (1,730 ft), and Taipei 101 at 509.2 metres (1,671 ft), and considerably smaller than the skyscraper Burj Dubai, at 818 metres (2,680 ft).

Knock Nevis is not the largest ship in all measures, though. By gross tonnage, for example, she ranks fifth, at 236,710 GT, behind the four Batillus-class supertankers, which range from 274,838 to 275,276 GT. These ships are the largest self-propelled objects ever constructed