There is an old saying called "the dragon is born with nine sons and does not become a dragon", which shows that even if it is the product of the same set of specifications, there are often various changes and differences in ability. Hanhai Wolf Mountain (Xiongnu Wolf Mountain) believes that even if it is a huge aircraft carrier, there are actually "very useful" in the same batch; there are also "problems from the beginning" and finally announced to be retired early. For example, who is the best to use the 10 Nimitz-class aircraft carriers that still have the largest number of active duty in the world? And who is the most wasteful of firewood? In fact, before the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, among the four Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carriers built earlier by the superpower, there was already a serious divergence in construction quality and actual use. Of the four Kitty Hawk class, the chronological order of construction are Kitty Hawk, Constellation, America, and Kennedy. After completion and service, the best quality performance of the four ships in service, the highest dispatch rate is actually the first ship Kitty Hawk. Kitty Hawk has been on duty as an aircraft carrier in the West Pacific, the world's most important sea, for nearly 40 years.
The dispatch efficiency is extremely high, and the navies of the Western Pacific countries have repeatedly made moves, and the actual performance is generally justified. By the time of its retirement, it had been in service for about 50 years. Even today, kitty Hawk is still the only one in the superpower's decommissioned aircraft carriers, including the decommissioned nuclear-powered carriers, that have no plans to dismantle kitty hawks. Among them, constellation and Kennedy can only be said to be in normal condition. The worst of the 4 ships was the USS America. This Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier, as the No. 3 ship in the same class, is said to have the experience of the first 2 ships in the entire production line, and the rebuilding of the third ship is already a familiar road. I didn't think that the American was seen to be seriously problematic from the moment it was launched. Generally speaking, whether it is a warship or a civilian ship, as long as it is the same type, the same drawing out of the ship, basically will be bigger and bigger, because most of the follow-up ships should be based on the actual service status of the previous first ship, and the user will put forward some suggestions for improvement. The design producer will optimize and upgrade according to these opinions, and the final result is that the tonnage will be slightly enlarged.
As an aircraft carrier of 75,000 tons or more, it is a full platoon. It is very normal for subsequent ships to be 500 to 1,000 tons larger than the full tonnage of the first ship. Both constellation and Kennedy were 300 to 600 tons larger than the inaugural kitty hawk, perfectly in line with normal engineering laws. And the American, which is the No. 3 ship, is actually 300 tons smaller than the first ship, the Kitty Hawk! This can not be said by simple production quality, this situation can be said to be a construction accident! The follow-up ship is smaller than the first ship, either the hull keel deformation, or the deformation of the whole ship exceeds the standard, which will eventually lead to the deformation of the keel, the belt grinding large shaft or the water leakage of the bushing and other serious use problems. In fact, the American has only been in service for about 30 years, and the superpower navy as an end-user has been unable to bear it, directly sinking this huge aircraft carrier experimentally to the deep water seabed below 2,000 meters in the Atlantic Ocean, which is obviously "out of sight and not bothered". So to the 10 Nimitz-class ships mentioned in the title of this article, in fact, they still have not escaped the above-mentioned inherent engineering laws. Of the 10 Nimitz-class ships, the first three were the first. The overall tonnage is still relatively conservative. According to the superpower's own account, the first three full rows are 93,000 tons.
In fact, this number should be imperial short tons. The nimitz of the first three ships, the actual full tonnage is basically between 88,000 tons and 90,000 tons. Only the second batch, the 5 ships from Ship 4 to Ship 8, did it really amplify the tonnage to between 93,000 tons and 97,000 tons. The last 2 ships count as the third batch. The full tonnage ranged from 98,000 to 99,000 tons. According to the general impression, the first three should be the initial "test products", and the quality and use condition should not be as good as the second and third batches. However, the actual use of more than 40 years shows that the first batch, especially the first ship Nimitz, is still relatively good quality. This is also a continuation of the "tradition" of the best quality construction of the Eaglet class's first ship, the Kitty Hawk. The quality of the first ship is often due to the construction period, from the design unit all the way to the construction shipyard. They attach great importance to it, and often concentrate on the design and construction of elite soldiers who can be used, and the project supervision party is also the most serious and responsible. Therefore, the quality of the first ship is better, which has become the basic law. And by the time the 5 ships of the second batch of the Nimitz class were built.
It is also a superpower national power just like the late 70s and early 90s. Therefore, the construction quality of these 5 ships is basically good. Including the Roosevelt, Lincoln and Truman, which currently have the highest dispatch rate, are the second batch of products. And compared with these 3 ships, then the best state at present should be the Truman. The carrier can still sail more than 4,000 nautical miles at a speed of 30 knots. The other Nimitz-class didn't dare to toss it that way. That is to say, among the Nimitz class, which is still frequently exported, the first four ships, the Nimitz, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Truman, have maintained the best state. One of the most "young and powerful" should be the Truman. And then came the last two ships of the Nimitz class. That is, the Washington and the bush Sr., it is said that these two ships were built the latest and used the most advanced technology. The tonnage is also the largest, and it is said that the actual deployment and combat capability of these 2 ships should be the strongest 2 of the 10 brothers, but the actual situation is surprising. The Washington briefly replaced the retired Kitty Eagle as the new duty aircraft carrier in the Western Pacific, but soon there was a major internal glitch and was forced to return to the mainland for major repairs.
And this repair is more than 7 years, so far has not left the Norfolk military port. And as the largest old man. That is, the bush Sr. bush, since the announcement of service, has basically not carried out cruise deployment. It is said that tens of thousands of welds during the construction period generally had quality problems, and the supervisor did not inspect them all signed the customs clearance, because the inspectors felt that it was too tiring to climb up and down inside the aircraft carrier to carry the equipment to test. I thought that if I didn't test it, no one would sign it. This was the case with both the builder and the supervising party, causing the huge aircraft carrier to simply not go out of the house. The construction quality of the last 2 Nimitz-class ships is the lowest! These two ships were also built after the end of the Cold War. As for the four Ford-class ships built in the last 20 years, there is no need to compare them with each other. Because no one can be deployed in real combat! No need to know that the top is all waste wood!