USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70)

USS Carl Vinson underway in the Pacific Ocean
History
United States
Name:	USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)
Namesake:	Carl Vinson
Ordered:	5 April 1974
Builder:	Newport News Shipbuilding
Laid down:	11 October 1975
Launched:	15 March 1980
Commissioned:	13 March 1982
Homeport:	NAS North Island San Diego, California
Motto:	Vis Per Mare (Strength from the Sea)
Status:	in active service
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type:	Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Displacement:	101,300 long tons (113,500 short tons)
Length:	Overall: 1,092 feet (332.8 m) Waterline: 1,040 feet (317.0 m)
Beam:	Overall: 252 ft (76.8 m) Waterline: 134 ft (40.8 m)
Draft:	Maximum navigational: 37 feet (11.3 m) Limit: 41 feet (12.5 m)
Propulsion:	2 × Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors 4 × steam turbines 4 × shafts 260,000 shp (194 MW)
Speed:	30+ knots (56+ km/h; 35+ mph)
Range:	Unlimited distance; 20–25 years
Complement:	Ship's company: 3,200 Air wing: 2,480
Crew:	6,062
Sensors and processing systems:	AN/SPS-48E 3-D air search radar AN/SPS-49(V)5 2-D air search radar AN/SPQ-9B target acquisition radar AN/SPN-46 air traffic control radars AN/SPN-43C air traffic control radar AN/SPN-41 landing aid radars 4 × Mk 91 NSSM guidance systems 4 × Mk 95 radars
Electronic warfare & decoys:	AN/SLQ-32A(V)4 Countermeasures suite SLQ-25A Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures
Armament:	2 × Mk 57 Mod3 Sea Sparrow 2 × RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile 3 × Phalanx CIWS
Armor:	Unknown
Aircraft carried:	90 fixed wing and helicopters

USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) is the United States Navy's third Nimitz-class supercarrier and is named after Carl Vinson, a Congressman from Georgia, in recognition of his contributions to the US Navy. The ship was launched in 1980, undertook her maiden voyage in 1983, and underwent refueling and overhaul between 2005 and 2009. Carl Vinson's call sign is "Gold Eagle".

Besides deployments in Operation Desert Strike, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Southern Watch, and Operation Enduring Freedom, Carl Vinson was involved in a number of notable events. The body of Osama bin Laden was buried at sea in 2011 from the deck of Carl Vinson, and that same year, on Veterans Day, she played host to the first NCAA basketball game on an aircraft carrier, between North Carolina and Michigan State.

A member of the United States House of Representatives for 50 years, Carl Vinson was, for 29 years, the Chairman of the House Naval Affairs and Armed Services Committee; Vinson was the principal sponsor of the so-called "Vinson Acts", culminating in the Two-Ocean Navy Act of 1940, which provided for the massive naval shipbuilding effort in World War II.