Home > USS George Washington (CVN-73)

USS George Washington (CVN 73) is the sixth ship in the Nimitz class of nuclear-powered supercarriers. She was built by Newport News Shipbuilding. The keel was laid on 25 August 1986 and the ship was commissioned on 4 July 1992.

Two nuclear reactors are used for propulsion (the ship is capable of steaming more than one million miles before refueling) turning 4 five-bladed screws that weigh 66,220 pounds (30 t) each driving the ship at speeds over 30 knots (56 km/h).

GW is 1,094 ft (333 m) long, 257 ft (78 m) wide and has a height equal to a twenty-four story building at 244 feet (74 m). The ship can accommodate approximately 80 aircraft and has a flight deck 4.5 acres (18,000 m²) in size, using four elevators that are 3,880 ft² (360 m²) each to move planes between the flight deck and the hangar bay. With a combat load, the GW displaces almost 97,000 tons and carries over 6,000 crew members. She can distill 400,000 US gallons (1,500 m³) of water and serves 18,000 meals per day. There are over 2,500 compartments on board requiring 2,520 tons (2.1 MW) of air conditioning capacity (enough to cool over 2,000 homes). The ship uses two anchors that weigh 30 tons each, with each link of the anchor chain weighing 360 pounds (160 kg).

As of 2004, George Washington is homeported at NS Norfolk, VirginiaVirginia is one of the original 13 states of the United States that revolted against British rule in the American Revolution and is generally classified as part of the South. Its official name is the Commonwealth of Virginia it is one of four Commonwealth.

See also USS George Washington (SSBN-598)Career Awarded: 31 December 1957 Laid down: 1 November 1957 Launched: 9 June 1959 Commissioned: 30 December 1959 Fate:submarine recycling Stricken: 30 April 1986 General Characteristics Displacement:5959 tons surfaced, 6709 tons submerged Length:116..