An aircraft carrier is an extremely large military warship which acts sort of like its own airport at sea.
These ships can be very heavy as you might imagine.
What is the weight of an aircraft carrier?
The biggest aircraft carrier in the world is the USS Gerald R Ford. When the Gerald R Ford is fully loaded it weighs a staggering 100,000 tons!
This class of carrier can hold around 75 aircraft and will have a crew of approximately 4,500.
It is important to note that the USS Gerald R Ford is not yet fully operational. It is a relatively new warship.
Officially the smallest aircraft carrier in the world is the HTMS Chakri Naruebet which belongs to the Thai Royal Navy.
The HTMS Chakri Naruebet when fully loaded weighs in at around 11,486 tons. It is still in operation today.
A typical aircraft carrier will have a fully equipped, full-sized flight deck capable of launching various types of aircraft in both war and peace.
When an aircraft is in full operation it can launch a plane every 25 seconds.
The United States Navy has 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The only other country with a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is France.
~ Fun Fact ~
Did you know that the Brazil Navy once tried to sell one of their aircraft carriers on eBay? Unfortunately, it didn’t attract any bids. It would be hard to store one of these ships on the area lake!
Resources
https://www.naval-technology.com/features/feature-the-10-biggest-aircraft-carriers_4067861-4067861/
https://science.howstuffworks.com/aircraft-carrier.htm
https://www.militaryfactory.com/ships/detail.asp?ship_id=RTN-Chakri-Naruebet-CVS911