USS America: The Unsinkable Giant That Redefined Naval Warfare

This was put to the ultimate test in how tough a target could an aircraft carrier be with the USS America, a conventionally powered Kitty Hawk-class carrier. This would shut down indeed most of the boastful rhetoric from China about her anti-ship missiles, the so-called “carrier killers,” based on just how much abuse the USS America could take during explosive tests.

USS America was commissioned in 1965 and provided an excellent service record, which included service during the Vietnam War, Operation Desert Storm, and many missions in the Persian Gulf, Libya, Haiti, and Bosnia. America displaced 83,573 tons and hosted an air wing of 79 aircraft with such types as F-4 Phantoms, A-6 Intruders, and F-14 Tomcats. Advanced air defenses had been its norm, radars, sensors, surface-to-air missiles, and Close-In Weapons Systems, all served in making it a veritable Mobile Fortress.

The America was decommissioned in 1996 and when the Navy conducted explosive tests to replicate wartime scenarios almost a decade later, the robust design of the carrier was proved and showed that the carrier could take impressive amounts of damage. Blake Horner, mechanical engineer, during the tests, mentioned that “In this case, the goal is not to necessarily make a stronger ship, but to make it much more survivable,” he said. “The more we understand, the carriers reacted to those hits, what is the overall damage.”. The resilience of America drove home that a vessel of this size could only be sunk if multiple compartments and spaces were penetrated.

Further, the lessons learned from the USS America’s endurance are realized in future carrier design, like that of the Gerald R. Ford class. Now, the first in its class, USS Gerald R. Ford had problems on its own with its electromagnetically actuated systems, most notably with the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and Advanced Arresting Gear. But, despite these issues, the Ford-class carriers are supposed to be, respectively, huge steps in terms of sortie generation rates and even the time between maintenance.

The legacy of the USS America lives on through these design improvements of the Gerald R. Ford–class, but also through the spirit of tough, unwavering service it always held. “As Susan Ford-Bales, President Gerald R. Ford’s daughter, said so appropriately during the CVN 78 naming ceremony, it can truly be said that the USS Gerald R. Ford has a special relationship with the USS America, whose sacrifice helped ensure the U.S. Navy’s carrier fleet was strong and would remain sentient in the future.”.

The USS America now lies at the bottom of the sea between Charleston, South Carolina, and Bermuda, bearing witness to how strong and durable a U.S. supercarrier could be, defining a high benchmark in the areas of naval engineering and warfare.