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THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release February 2, 1995

FACT SHEET:

Naming of Aircraft Carriers CVN-75 AND CVN-76

CVN-75 and CVN-76 are the eighth and ninth Nimitz-class aircraft carriers approved for construction. The USS HARRY S. TRUMAN (CVN-75) was authorized in Fiscal Year 1988. It is scheduled to be christened in September 1996, with a commissioning date of July 1998. This aircraft carrier was initially to be called the USS UNITED STATES. The USS RONALD REAGAN (CVN-76) was authorized in Fiscal Year 1995, with a christening date of March 2000 and a commissioning date of December 2002. The construction of both carriers is at the Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company in Newport News, Virginia.

The previous seven Nimitz-class aircraft carriers are all named for prominent Americans, including four other past Presidents. The Presidents are George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Dwight D. Eisenhower. One conventionally powered aircraft carrier is named for a President, John F. Kennedy. Only twice before has a carrier been named for a living American, the Nimitz-class carriers USS JOHN C. STENNIS and USS CARL VINSON.

The Nimitz-class carriers are expected to have an operating life-span of nearly fifty years. They are nuclear powered and can operate indefinitely at a speed of 30 plus knots. The carrier normally carries a complement of over 80 aircraft, including 50 strike aircraft. Its three squadrons of F/A-18s and one squadron of F-14s can conduct more than 150 sorties per day. The carrier carriers carry over 4000 bombs and 700 precision guided munitions and will operate for over twenty years prior to a refueling.

The aircraft carrier has proven to be an invaluable asset deployed with our joint forces. As recent examples:

In Haiti, the carriers USS AMERICA and USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER were the prime platforms for introducing and supporting the Army's 10th Mountain Division and the other joint forces that made Operation Uphold Democracy a success.
Sailing off the former Yugoslavia, the crews and aviators of USS SARATOGA, USS GEORGE WASHINGTON and other carriers have enforced the no-fly zone in the skies over Bosnia as part of Operation Deny Flight.
When Saddam Hussein began his most recent build-up of offensive forces near the border of Kuwait, USS GEORGE WASHINGTON demonstrated the readiness and flexibility of our carrier force by immediately steaming from the Adriatic to the Persian Gulf. The presence of our forces convinced Saddam to stop his build-up. At the same time in the North Pacific, USS KITTY HAWK was on station off Korea.

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