[LibKill]

Impressive.

And I hope it scares the poo out of our enemies.

[MosesKnows]

4 1/2 acres of flight deck

Four and one-half acres of a sovereign America.

Thank you, a very impressive article.

[TADSLOS]

Freedom's newest projection platform, courtesy of the good old USA. Is this a great country or what?

[SevenDaysInMay]

China, aided by Clintons' treasonous corruption, believes that they can sink these capital ships and that Americans will shrink from the threat.

[Mr. Thorne]

Big Ron

Kewl...

[G.Mason]

Great post and read. Thanks

[ken5050]

Great article..thanks for posting......I saw the Harry Truman when it was still just the bottom, or "keel level"..it is indeed amazing to realize that the entire bottom is flat as a pancake.....Archimedes be damned, you wonder why/how the thing manages to float....

[Centurion2000]

bump

[Mr. Bird]

Its successor, the so far unnamed CVN-77, will be delivered in early 2008

Any suggestions? USS Trade Center?

[Al B.]

Many of the 17,800 employees of Newport News are from families that have worked in the yard for generations. Among them, says one manager, there is "a fierce identity with the company, a long and proud tradition." That tradition goes back to the yard's founding in 1886.

"For those who think Americans don't build anything worthwhile these days, I say go down to Newport News and watch those great men and women build mountains of steel that float, move and fly airplanes off the top.  It truly is the 'NNS' miracle."

-- Tom Clancy from his non-fiction book, "Carrier"

USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) just prior to floating out of her building dock in March, 2001

[SamAdams76]

Excellent article. I have always been a big fan of aircraft carriers and wish we had more of them. I think 15 is a good number to have. That would allow us to put maybe seven in the Pacific, five in the Atlantic/Med/Indian Ocean area and have three spares that can be used as replacements while the others are undergoing maintainance/retrofitting.

BTW, even though I was in the military, I still do not get why we have nautical miles instead of statute miles and knots instead of mph. Can anybody explain why distance and speed are measured differently at sea (and air)?

[Tourist Guy]

Okay, I've had this question for awhile. Forgive me but

Don't they only name ships after folks who have passed on? Like postage stamps?

Regam is alive, right?

[Paleo Conservative]

CVN-77

[Sabertooth]

Great article, thanks!

[Aric2000]

Index bump, for later perusal.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Here's why it takes more than seven years to make the world's most complicated manufactured product.

Taking nothing away from these beautiful vessels...I would submit that the STS or Space Transport System, better known as "The Space Shuttle" is a more complicated and complex "product". I put one of these sea-going beauties a close second.

[archy]

Stephen Hassell, who led the IT revamping program, says the new system ought to help with a major problem for Newport News: "There are not a lot of opportunities for organic growth. We're not going to get a phone call saying, 'We want you to build 30 aircraft carriers, and we want you to build them now.' "

Just what we thought in 1941. Until December seventh.

-archy-/-

[Jim Noble]

What a huge and valuable target!

[Non-Sequitur]

By 2000 the number of U.S. shipbuilders had been reduced to three: Litton Industries, General Dynamics, and Newport News...

Last time I checked Bath Iron Works was still cranking out destroyers and amphibious ships.

[LibKill]

DUDE!!! We're gettin' a Nimitz!!!!