CVA-01 - What was the RN carrier plan 1966-1976

[uk 75]

Moonshine. The UK could not even decide to build this.
Post in thread 'Royal Navy nuclear surface ships' https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/royal-navy-nuclear-surface-ships.1172/post-116501

 

[Scott Kenny]

I believe the British did look at nuclear propulsion for CVA01, although I don't know what type, and rejected it on grounds of cost. By the early 60s the A2W was producing 35,000hp and the A3W was producing 70,000hp.

The Global Security article on the A3W says the JFK would cost $440m with nuclear power and $280m without and with the Nimitiz with a cheaper 2 reactor setup nuclear propulsion represented half the cost of the ships whereas an oil plant is about a quarter of the cost of the ship IIUC.

I've never looked directly into the cost of nuclear propulsion, but Wow that's a lot of upfront cost!

There's apparently a law on the books that makes the USN consider nuclear power for any large ship. For the San Antonio class the analysis put the break even point at $140/barrel for oil: as long as oil stayed below $140/barrel it was cheaper to not use nuclear power.