Supercarrier: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

A supercarrier is a form of aircraft carrier, generally considered to be 75,000 tons or greater in displacement—most countries operate carriers with a displacement of less than 40,000 tons (such as the Charles de Gaulle), and more often closer to 15,000 (such as HMS Illustrious.)

The 81,000 ton USS Forrestal was the first operational supercarrier, though the United States would have been in service earlier, had it been completed. (Its cancellation triggered the "Revolt of the Admirals.") The United States would have had a nuclear strategic bombing role, rather than the multipurpose role that all subsequent supercarriers have had. The 72,000 ton armored Japanese carrier Shinano of the World War II era was almost heavy enough to be considered a supercarrier, but lacked several defining features, such as catapults, arrestor cables, and angled flight decks, and also did not possess the sheer size of modern supercarriers.

The U.S. Navy is still building large aircraft carriers to this day, of which the 100,000 ton Nimitz class is the most prolific. All completed supercarriers are American, although the Soviet Union did begin construction of the Ulyanovsk, an 85,000 ton nuclear carrier comparable in size to earlier American supercarriers. The Ulyanovsk was 40% complete when cancelled (along with a follow-on vessel) after the end of the Cold War in 1991.

Supercarriers

• United States (USA, 1950s) - Cancelled
• Forrestal (USA, 1955) - All units decommissioned
  • USS Forrestal (CV-59) - Decom 1993
  • USS Saratoga (CV-60) - Decom 1994
  • USS Ranger (CV-61) - Decom 1993
  • USS Independence (CV-62) - Decom 1998
• Kitty Hawk (USA, 1961) - Three units decommissioned, one active
  • USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) - Yokosuka, Japan
  • USS Constellation (CV-64) - Decom 2003
  • USS America (CV-66) - Decom 1996
• Enterprise (USA, 1961) - single-unit class, still active
  • USS Enterprise (CVN-65) - Norfolk
  • Second unit planned but never ordered, CV-66 was Kitty Hawk class USS America
• John F. Kennedy (USA, 1968) - single-unit class, a modified Kitty Hawk design, still active
  • USS John F. Kennedy (CV-67) - Mayport, FL
• Nimitz (USA, 1975) - Final unit scheduled for completion in 2009, all units still active
  • USS Nimitz (CVN-68) - San Diego
  • USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) - Norfolk Naval Shipyard (Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH) through 2005)
  • USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) - Bremerton, WA
  • USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) - Norfolk
  • USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) - Everett, WA
  • USS George Washington (CVN-73) - Norfolk
  • USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) - San Diego
  • USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) - Norfolk
  • USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) - San Diego
• Ulyanovsk (USSR, 1990s) - Cancelled
• CVN-21 (USA, 2013) - Pending