The first aircraft carrier , christened by the US Navy , set sail in 1922. A converted support vessel that was more of an experiment than a warship. The USS Langley (CV-1) was converted from USS Jupiter and gained the nickname of “covered wagon” for the newly installed flight deck.
With a deck of 542 feet (165 meters) long and displacing less than 20,000 tons, the Langley would be dwarfed by her descendants. While the pioneers who created Langley had high hopes, it’s unlikely they would have imagined how such a humble beginning would lead to the leviathans that sail the high seas today. At the outbreak of WW2 , the Yorktown Class boasted a 900 foot (274 meter) flight deck and averaged 40,000 tons with the air wing aboard.
The post-war Forrestal Class launched in 1955, would grow to 1,067 feet (325 meters) and 81,000 tons ; becoming the first class of warship dubbed supercarriers. In 1961, the remarkable immensity of the Forrestal Class would surpassed by the first nuclear-powered supercarrier, USS Enterprise (CV-66). Measuring 1,088 feet (331 meters) and displaced 94,000 tons and named for the most decorated flat-top of WW2, Enterprise would be the capital ship of the US Navy through many conflicts over decades of service until finally being decommissioned in 2017.
In her wake, the ubiquitous Nimitz Class - the tip of the spear, always ready to project power ashore wherever and whenever they are called to action. Launched in 1972, the Nimitz Class built upon the technol.