How Long Does It Take An Aircraft Carrier To Cross The Atlantic?

SlashGear ^ | Jun 28, 2025 | Jonathan H. Kantor

[where's_the_Outrage?]

When it comes to aircraft carriers, the nation with the most is the United States. The U.S. Navy operates 11 nuclear aircraft carriers of various designs, and more are on the way as the service replaces its aging fleet of Nimitz-class carriers with the new Gerald R. Ford-class carriers. These are massive ships and the largest warships ever constructed in military history. Each Ford-class vessel displaces around 100,000 tons of seawater and measures 1,092 feet in length, with a flight deck width of 256 feet.

That's a lot of ship to move around, but despite its mass, a Ford-class carrier can sail along the ocean surface at an impressive 34.5 mph. Moving such a ship requires a great deal of power, and these carriers are fully equipped with two Bechtel A1B nuclear reactors capable of delivering around 700 megawatts thermal (MWt) each. These help the Ford-class carriers to make more than three times the electricity of legacy Nimitz-class carriers.

That energy is used to move the massive ships at a considerably high speed across the Atlantic Ocean, a journey that can take around a week. The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), the first of its class, made its first Atlantic crossing in 2022 during its maiden voyage, and it's done so multiple times since entering active service. It started in Halifax, Canada, and followed the same path its predecessors paved during World War II, though it did so at a much faster rate, as older carriers were slower and less powerful ships. More recently, the USS Gerald R. Ford set sail across the Atlantic Ocean in October 2023 to act as a deterrent in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

[Conan the Librarian]

I once saw the Philadelphia Express (cargo ship) leave the Port of a Savannah. I tracked it using AIS. It was in Portugal in 5 days.

Very Express

[glennaro]

... and yet every one of the posts complaining about the click bait did the same thing. Not one gave the answer.

[Hammerhead]

It depends on where the aircraft carrier is located. If it’s in Brazil and you go to Africa, it should take no more than about three days.

[exnavy]

I am certain the top speed is classified, having said that i witnessed the Ike on the way to Iran in early 1980 doing 45 knots. A knot is 1.1 mph. And i am sure the big super carriers go faster than that.

[logi_cal869]

I remembered reading about the Able & Baker shots years ago, but couldn't recall the details without looking them up.

Actually, that's the shadow of the USS Arkansas.

Arkansas was the closest ship to the bomb other than the ship from which it was suspended. The underwater shock wave crushed the hull on the starboard side facing the balst, and rolled the battleship over onto its port side. It also ripped off the two starboard side propellers and their shafts, along with the rudder and part of the stern, shortening the hull by 8 meters. Contrary to popular belief, Arkansas was not lifted vertically by the blast., the dark area is caused by Arkansas’s hull interfering with the development of the spray column, creating a hole in the plume. Forensic examination of the wreck during multiple surveys since the test conclusively show that structural failure of hull plating along the starboard side allowed rapid flooding and capsized the ship.

Operation Crossroads - 1946

[Who is John Galt?]

Thanks for the correction!
;^)

[17th Miss Regt]

Very interesting! I had thought it was the IJN Nagato.

[Dr. Franklin]

... and yet every one of the posts complaining about the click bait did the same thing. Not one gave the answer.

It depends how fast it travels, and it can travel fast or slow.

[Bonemaker]

I think the USS Arkansas went up in one of those test mushrooms too.

[Bonemaker]

I think the USS Arkansas went up in one of those test mushrooms too.

[Bonemaker]

I think the USS Arkansas went up in one of those test mushrooms too.

[Jim Noble]

more are on the way

It takes nine years to build one.

Between January 1942 and December 1944, the US launched 47 aircraft carriers.

[Jim Noble]

What I want to know is, how much battle damage is required to stop flight operations from a modern US fleet carrier?

Sinking them becomes less important if they can’t launch and recover.

[Tallguy]

There’s a few naval aviators who claim that it was done in less than 3 days by the carrier on which their air wing was embarked, but that was a one-off emergency sortie to the Mediterranean. The USN doesn’t admit to the top speed of any of their carriers except to say “30+ knots.” Same goes for combat aircraft. Nobody admits to a “top speed” anymore, nor do they claim “official” records.

[glennaro]

Of course, but what is of particular interest is how quickly it can do so which would be — if not classified — would be, well, interesting.

[technically right]

Man, you could pull a shit ton of water skiers behind that thing!

[Churchillspirit]

Good point.

I gave up after the three on the screen.

[Tallguy]

“Or bring back battleships but put flight decks on them so they can be combo Battleship-Carriers? Japan did that at the end of the last world war and they did well. They could serve until we get our ship building running well.”

Reasonable questions. The IJN Shinano was a converted “Yamato-class” battleship. It’s important to understand that battleships have a lot of internal compartmentalization for flood-control & structural support of all that armor. They are designed to take a pounding from guns of their own caliber.

Aircraft carriers evolved with large internal volume devoted to maintenance of aircraft, special machinery (elevators), fuel and weapons storage, spare aircraft, and so on. Can’t easily duplicate that on on a battleship design.

Returning to the Shinano, the IJN did not consider it to be a fleet carrier (what we called an “Attack Carrier” post-WW2). It’s role was basically that of a aircraft transport (AVT). The idea is that it could carry the aircraft to resupply island air groups of to deliver spares to the fleet carriers at see. In other words, it was a very large, expensive aviation support ship.

Also, the experience with the 8” guns retained by the USS Lexington and USS Saratoga showed that flight operations were not compatible with the shock of large caliber naval guns. I can only imagine what 16” naval rifles on a “Iowa Class” would do.

[Coronal]

The only existing pre-Nimitz carriers are JFK and Kitty Hawk, they’re both being scrapped. Smaller drone carriers might be a good idea. The two battleship-carrier hybrids Japan created never did anything of note. They didn’t have enough of either ship type to them to be of any real use.

[DesertRhino]

And engine power is a part. But hull length is a big part of speed. Given the same power, the longer hull is always faster.