She weighs in at an impressive 100,000 tons and is longer than The Shard in London is tall.
The American aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt is a true giant of the seas and she's anchored off the south coast of Britain for a five-day visit.
Forces TV takes the opportunity of her stay to look at how the 'Big Stick' sizes up to the Royal Navy's flagship vessels past, present, and future.
The USS Theodore Roosevelt
* Towers 20 stories above the waterline with a 4.5-acre flight deck.
* 1,092 feet long: nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall.
* Four high speed aircraft elevators, each more than 4,000 square feet, bring planes to the flight deck from the hangar below.
* Expected to operate as Navy warship for about 50 years.
* Enough food and supplies to operate for 90 days: 18,150 meals served daily.
* 1,400 telephones, 14,000 pillowcases and 28,000 sheets.
Detailed breakdown of facts and figures:
Class and type: Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Displacement: 104,600 long tons
Length: Overall: 1,092 feet (332.8 m)
Waterline: 1,040 feet (317.0 m)
Propulsion:2 × Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors
4 × steam turbines driving 4 × shafts
260,000 shp (194 MW)
Speed: 30+ knots (56+ km/h; 35+ mph)
Range: Unlimited distance; 20-25 years
Endurance: Limited only by food and supplies
Complement:Ship's company: 3,200, Air wing: 2,480
Armament: 2 × Sea Sparrow
2 × RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile
2 x PHALANX CIWS (Close-In Weapons System) Gatling guns
Aircraft carried: 90 fixed wing and helicopters
For video footage of the USS Theodore Roosevelt in action, below are flight deck operations during Operation Enduring Freedom, March 19, 2009:
The Present: HMS Bulwark
* HMS Bulwark is the Royal Navy Fleet's current flagship, and can accommodate an Embarked Military Force of 305 troops, with an overload of a further 405.
* Her flight deck can accommodate two Chinook or two Merlin helicopters. A large floodable dock holds four large landing craft with another four carried on the ship’s side.
Detailed breakdown of facts and figures:
Class and type: Albion-class amphibious transport dock
Displacement: 19,560 tonnes
Length: 176 metres (577 ft)
Speed:18 knots (21 mph; 33 km/h
)Range: 8,000 miles (7,000 nmi; 13,000 km)Capacity: 67 vehiclesTroops: 405 Royal Marines (710 overload)Crew:325Armament:2 × Goalkeeper CIWS2 × 30 mm guns4 × General purpose machine gunsAviation facilities:Two landing spots for helicopters up-to the size of a Chinook.
* There were over 800 people on board HMS Victory, including gunners, marines, warrant officers and powder monkeys among many others.
* Launched in 1765 at a cost of £63,176. In 1765, a labourer made about 6 shillings for a 10-12 hour day, or a little less than £100 a year.
* The Captain and other high ranking officers slept in a cofflin-like box cot that hung from the deckhead. If the captain died he was nailed inside with some cannonballs and buried at sea.
* Raising the anchor on board Victory was a major undertaking. Each anchor weighed 2 Tons (2000 Kg) and each anchor cable weighed 4½ Tons making a total lift of 6½ Tons. This load had to be lifted manually...
Detailed breakdown of facts and figures:
Class and type: 104-gun first-rate ship of the line
Displacement:3,500 tons
Length: 186 ft (57 m) (gundeck), 227 ft 6 in (69.34 m)(overall)
Propulsion:Sails—6,510 sq yd (5,440 m²)
Speed:8 to 9 knots (15 to 17 km/h) maximum
Complement:Approximately 850
Armament: Gundeck: 30 × 2.75 ton long pattern Blomefield 32 pounders (15 kg)
Middle gundeck: 28 × 2.5 ton long 24 pounders (11 kg)
Upper gundeck: 30 × 1.7 ton short 12 pounders (5 kg)
Quarterdeck: 12 × 1.7 ton short 12 pounder (5 kg)
Forecastle: 2 × medium 12 pounder (5 kg), 2 × 68 pounder (31 kg) caress at waterline 2 ft (0.6 m)
The Future: HMS Queen Elizabeth
Currently being built at shipyards around the country, HMS Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales are the future flagships of the nation. Initially the ships will carry helicopters, with the vast flight deck and hangar able to accommodate any helicopter in Britain’s military inventory.
From 2020, however, our punch will be delivered by the F35 Lightning II, the world’s most advanced stealth fighter-bomber.
* Each of the new UK aircraft carriers has 2 huge propellers which together are able to output ~80 megawatt of power. This is enough energy to run ~1000 family cars, ~50 of the new highspeed trains, or to power ~5500 households.
* Expected service life of up to 50 years.
* Capacity/Crew: 1450 (1600 company+aircrew), complement 686+, max 40 aircraft (which is double the existing UK carriers capacity).
* HMS Queen Elizabeth will be three times the size of the UK’s only one remaining carrier HMS Illustrious and will be second only to America's nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carriers.
* The infographic (below) details some "Food For Thought" from our upcoming carriers: 40 chefs among the cooking staff, 12,000 tins of beans, 64,800 eggs, 66,000 sausages, 28, 800 bacon rashers, 1,000 loaves of bread (a day).
