USS George H. W. Bush (CVN-77)
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This article contains information about an as-yet unfinished ship.
It may contain preliminary or speculative information, and may not reflect the final version of the ship.
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This article does not cite any references or sources. (March 2008) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed. |
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| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 26 January 2001 |
| Laid down: | 6 September 2003 |
| Christened: | 7 October 2006 |
| Launched: | 9 October 2006 |
| Commissioned: | Expected Mid 2009 |
| Motto: | Freedom at Work |
| Status: | Sea trials |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Nimitz-class aircraft carrier |
| Displacement: | Approximately 97,000 tons (88,000 metric tons) full load |
| Length: | Overall: 1,092 ft (333 m) Waterline: 1,040 ft (317 m) |
| Beam: | Overall: 252 ft (76.8 m) Waterline: 134 ft (40.8 m) |
| Draft: | Maximum navigational: 37 ft (11.3 m) Limit: 41 ft (12.5 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors 4 × steam turbines 4 × shafts 260,000 shp (194 MW) |
| Speed: | 30+ knots (56+ km/h) |
| Range: | Essentially unlimited |
| Complement: | Ship's company: 3,200 Air wing: 2,480 |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
SPS-48E 3-D air search radar SPS-49A(V)1 2-D air search radar Mk 23 target acquisition radar 2 × SPN-46 air traffic control radars SPN-43B air traffic control radar SPN-44 landing aid radars 3 × Mk 91 NSSM guidance systems 3 × Mk 95 radars |
| Electronic warfare and decoys: |
SLQ-32A(V)4 Countermeasures suite SLQ-25A Nixie torpedo countermeasures |
| Armament: | 2 × Mk 29 ESSM launcher 2 × RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile |
| Armor: | Unknown |
| Aircraft carried: | 90 fixed wing and helicopters |
USS George H. W. Bush (CVN-77) is the tenth and last Nimitz class supercarrier of the United States Navy. She is named for former President George H. W. Bush, who was a naval aviator during World War II. George H. W. Bush is to be the final Nimitz class aircraft carrier constructed; the next carrier built will be Gerald R. Ford, the first of a new class.
She is the second United States aircraft carrier to be named after a naval aviator (Forrestal was the first). Other naval vessels named for aviators include frigates McClusky and Thach, and destroyer Massey, all named for aviators who commanded formations in the Battle of Midway. While still a Nimitz class ship, George H. W. Bush differs significantly from her predecessors, even more so than the differences between CVN 68–70 and CVN 71–76.
Construction began in 2001 by the Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard, at a cost of $4.5 billion.[citation needed] The aircraft carrier was christened on October 7, 2006, and delivery is set for 2008. Mid-April 2008 she left port for shakedown cruise. She is scheduled to be commissioned in 2009.
[edit] Features of CVN-77
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Several features differentiate CVN-77 from other ships in the Nimitz class. These include:
- Bulbous bow design: Improves hull efficiency and reduces drag. This feature was first used on the USS Ronald Reagan.
- Passive jet blast deflector: Redesigns and new materials mean reduced maintenance costs.
- Island designs: Improve flight deck access and reduce signature and electronic self-interference.
- Signature reduction: Curved flight deck edges, enclosed antenna farms, and smaller islands improve stealth.
- Aircraft pit stop: Semi-automated refueling and servicing in a new configuration and deck location provides faster, more efficient airwing pit stops and requires fewer people.
- Hangar bay: New designs reduce clutter.
- Manpower reductions: Technology, space rearrangement, operational procedure changes, advanced sensor technologies and condition-based maintenance systems all allow for a smaller, specially-trained crew.
- Reconfigurable spaces: Life-of-the-ship modular construction designs provide flexibility and reduce cost.
- Expanded bandwidth: More onboard and offboard capability improves the ship's communications.
- Zonal electrical distribution systems: Isolate the potential for problems and minimizes the effect on the rest of the ship.
- Automation insertion: Material movement devices, semi-autonomous, gravity compensated weapons handling devices, damage control automation systems and components will reduce the ship's crew and costs.
- Vacuum Collection / Marine Sanitation Device (VC/MSD): Most ships in the U.S. Navy utilize a Collection Holding and Transfer (CHT) system to handle sewage waste. Several ships add a Vacuum collection capacity or VCHT. Septic systems, when used aboard ships are referred to as Marine Sanitation Devices, often used in U.S. Coast Guard ships. Bush is the first and only ship in the U.S. Navy to combine the two technologies. The "VC\MSD" system onboard CVN 77 is one-of-a-kind. The next class of U.S. Navy Aircraft Carriers will likely use a Plasma arc waste disposal system.
[edit] External links
- [1]: CVN-77 page on U.S. Navy website
- Shipyard: CVN 77 section of the Northrop Grumman Newport News site
- Crew: The Navy's Pre-Commissioning Unit for CVN 77
- Global Security's entry for CVN 77
- 1998 Article "Front Loading the CVN 77..." which analyzes how the DoD's changes to initial funding affect long range savings in procurement
- A video on how the CVN-77 was made.
- USS George H.W. Bush history at U.S. Carriers
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