USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) is one of the most famous aircraft carriers of the United States Navy. It is the third aircraft carrier of the Nimitz class and named in honor of the congressman Carl Vinson. Currently, USS Carl Vinson is assigned to the Carrier Strike Group 1 with homeport in San Diego.
USS Carl Vinson began construction at Newport News Shipbuilding in October 1975 and was launched in March 1980. Congressman Carl Vinson was the first person in the history of the US Navy to witness a ship bearing his name being launched. After two years of testing, USS Carl Vinson was commissioned into the US Navy in February 1982.
As a Nimitz-class carrier, USS Carl Vinson has a length of almost 333 meters, a width of 76.8 meters, and a displacement of approximately 101,300 tons at full load. With two Westinghouse A4W reactors, USS Carl Vinson can operate indefinitely for 20 to 25 years. The carrier can reach speeds over 30 knots or 56 km/h with four steam turbines. Its massive size allows it to transport 90 fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters along with a crew of 6,062 people, including nearly 2,500 personnel serving in the ship’s air wing. Carrier Air Wing 17 (CVW-17) is currently deployed aboard USS Carl Vinson and includes combat aircraft such as the Boeing F/A-18C Hornet; Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, electronic warfare aircraft Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler; airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye; Grumman C-2 Greyhound transport aircraft and Sikorsky SH-60F Oceanhawk anti-submarine helicopters.
The aircraft on USS Carl Vinson, or any aircraft carrier, are launched by catapult. In its maiden voyage, USS Carl Vinson circumnavigated the globe, visiting many seas and oceans such as the Mediterranean, Atlantic, Indian, Arabian, Pacific, and also visited many ports including Monte Carlo (Monaco), Casablanca (Morocco), Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Perth (Australia), Subic Bay (Philippines), Hong Kong, Sasebo (Japan), Pusan (South Korea), and Pearl Harbor (Hawaii).
In addition to international exercises, USS Carl Vinson also assisted with humanitarian aid after the 2010 Haiti earthquake. In the picture above, helicopters were deployed from USS Carl Vinson to deliver food and medicine to victims of the disaster in Haiti. In 2011, after the death of terrorist leader Osama bin Laden, his body was also brought aboard USS Carl Vinson. Since its commissioning in 1983, USS Carl Vinson has… (The rest of the text is missing.)
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