Perspective…


USS REAGAN

Seeing it next to the Arizona Memorial really puts its size into perspective… BIG!!!

When the Bridge pipes ‘ Man the Rail’ there is a lot of rail to man on this monster: shoulder to shoulder, around 4.5 acres. Her displacement is about 100,000 tons with full complement.

Capability

Top speed exceeds 30 knots, powered by two nuclear reactors that can operate for more than 20 years without refueling

1. Expected to operate in the fleet for about 50 years
2. Carries over 80 combat aircraft
3. Four arresting cables can stop a 28-ton aircraft going 150 miles per hour in less than 400 feet

Size

1. Towers 20 stories above the waterline

2. 1092 feet long; nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall (The USS Arizona by comparison, was 608 Ft long)

3. Flight deck covers 4.5 acres
4. 4 bronze propellers, each 21 feet across, weighing 66,200 pounds
5. 2 rudders, each 29 by 22 feet and weighing 50 tons
6. 4 high speed aircraft elevators, each over 4,000 square feet

Capacity

1. Home to about 6,000 Navy personnel (that’s 6,000 sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters of AMERICANS)
2. Carries enough food and supplies to operate for 90 days

3. 18,150 meals served daily 4. Distillation plants provide 400,000 gallons of fresh water from sea water daily, enough for 2,000 homes
5. Nearly 30,000 light fixtures and 1,325 miles of cable and wiring ; 1,400 telephones
6. 14,000 pillowcases and 28,000 sheets

Comments

Perspective… — 26 Comments

  1. The last time I was in San Diego I toured the USS Midway and I saw the USS Reagan across the bay.

    That is one big ship.

  2. Awe-inspiring every time I see it.

    wv: “brogeni”. What you get when you rub an old bottle that you find in Anacostia.

  3. These things are HUGE! I got to go on the Nimitz once, and I was stunned that something that big can *easily* exceed 30 kts.
    Just amazing.

  4. Alan- That it is…

    Murph- LOL

    drjim- yep, just turn up the ‘wick’ and away she goes…

  5. It must humble my USS Yorktown in South Carolina. I will not compare it to my favorite Battleship BB-55!

    Yet today someone published an article about the diminished Naval forces we can man (and or woman).

  6. Ev- You can bet a bunch…LOL

    Keads- It’s a grand-daughter of Yorktown! We are down in ‘manning’ and are getting reduced even further. It’s NOT good…

    WSF- Yep 🙂

    North- If you are in need, yes it is… and if you’re coming back low on gas, it DEFINITELY is!!!

    ADM- True!

  7. Truly a technological marvel. My tin can plane guarded the Enterprise once or twice.

    If she wanted to leave us behind, she left us behind.

  8. Blink, blink … OMG that thing is HUGE.

    I remember as a kid going onto the “Constellation” – and I thought that was big, by the sounds of it, this one is even bigger.

    Hope it comes to Perth and I can get to take the girls to see it (wonder if the US Navy still lets us onto their boats/ships/whatever when they’re in harbour?)

  9. I know people that have seen the Big E kick up her heels and skidaddle away leaving a rooster tail as high as the flight deck. One of the guys timed it from where they were until it went over the horizon. He calculated it must have been doing in excess of FIFTY knots!
    He also told me the Captain got chewed out because going that fast caused a lot of cavitation, and he damaged a couple of the screws.

  10. The Progeny & I attended the commissioning ceremony of the USS Wasp {LHD-1} 29 July 1989 – she was 9 at the time, so was getting kind of antsy by the time all the speechifying was done, so we didn’t go on the tour – but watching the manning of the ship was something else!

    I always wondered why Virginia Beach, VA, INSISTED on demanding fresh water from Lake Gaston, NC, when they’re right on the Atlantic Ocean, and could have utilized distillation/desalination facilities that would have paid for themselves in less than 5 years – good to know the Navy isn’t so short-sighted ……………….. 😉

    Semper Fi’
    DM

  11. When I used to fish San Diego bay we would drift by one sometimes two of them tied up to North Island.
    Took a loong time to drift by and it was a loong ways up to the deck.

  12. I’ve got a picture of the Reagan hanging on my wall at home. These CVNs are extremely big cans of whoop-ass!

  13. powered by two nuclear reactors that can operate for more than 20 years without refueling.

    Whoa! That’s incredible. My car is lucky to go a week without refilling!

    Such an awe-inspiring ship is blessed to have such a name.

  14. A small mobile city with its own VERY efficient airport. Power!
    And now China is building their own.
    Gee… I wonder why?

  15. Tango- Yep… LOL

    Snigs- 🙂

    Julie- They still do allow people aboard for tours, but they are kinda limited.

    drjim- No comment 🙂

    DM- Yeah, every once in a while the Navy gets it right… 🙂

    Brighid- You’re welcome

    Skip- 95 feet… to the flight deck…

    Supi/Andy- yep!

    Elm- CVN’s only require TWO “fillups” in their life times… Not bad mileage!

    GB- Because they work??? 🙂

  16. Now there’s a grand ol’ girl who can kick ass across the planet. I hadn’t realized she was so big – to hear it from an ol’ colonel, you’d think she was about the size of a postage stamp and could bob and weave like a maple leaf in the wind whenever he was coming back.

  17. Julie: I was ship’s crew on the Connie for almost three years; after a month or so at sea, it got kinda small.

    Not to be a downer, but, one Exocet missle turns the Reagan into a giant target. Just sayin’, big is nice but it ain’t everything without those little escort ships.