CVAN-68 Concepts?

[Triton]

Were there other concepts that they looked at for CVAN-68 before they decided on the configuration that would become U.S.S. Nimitz? Was the carrier always named for Fleet Admiral Chester Nimitz or were other names considered? Was there serious consideration given to building additional Enterprise-class carriers? Or were additional units of the Enterprise-class design deemed too expensive?

 

[Tzoli]

Originally if I'm right 8 Enterprise class Carriers were considered to be built which reduced to the known one.

 

[F-14D]

Originally if I'm right 8 Enterprise class Carriers were considered to be built which reduced to the known one.

Originally, there were to be six ships, CV-67 was to have been the next one. Essentially, the Enterprise ships were nuclear Kitty Hawks. As the first ship of the class it bore all the non-recurring costs, and for such a revolutionary concept those costs were really high. The remaining five were cancelled for that reason as well as the fact that McNamara didn't like nukes. However, her performance off Vietnam was so impressive that even he had to admit the obvious and relented, endorsing -68 and -69 being nuclear. Note that this was the only major decision he made as SECDEF that he was willing to reverse.

 

[Triton]

I thought that CVAN-66 was originally going to be the next Enterprise-class aircraft carrier. Due to the costs associated with U.S.S. Enterprise, she was ordered as a conventionally powered Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier on November 25, 1960 and named U.S.S. America.

 

[Abraham Gubler]

As I remember it the big debate about the Nimitz class was how many nuclear reactors it would need. The original design had four but they were able to reduce it to two. Friedman's "US Aircraft Carriers - An Illustrated Design History" covers this topic. I shall have to dig out my copy.

 

[F-14D]

I thought that CVAN-66 was originally going to be the next Enterprise-class aircraft carrier. Due to the costs associated with U.S.S. Enterprise, she was ordered as a conventionally powered Kitty Hawk-class aircraft carrier on November 25, 1960 and named U.S.S. America.

I have heard both that, and also that she was intentionally ordered as a conventional as a hedge in order to keep carrier construction continuing pending results from Enterprise, and also over concerns about Enterprises costs.