With a crew of around 3100 and a air group of around 2800, this is the largest carrier class afloat. Able to carry huge numbers of aircraft it is probably the most dangerous ship on the seas. A typical air group consists of 20 F-14 Tomcats fighters , 20 F/A-18 Hornet dual role attack fighters, 20 A-6 Intruder attack jets, 10 S-3 Viking anti-sub aircraft, 6 EA-6 Prowler electronic warfare aircraft, 5 E-2 Hawkeye early warning radar planes and 6 SH-3/SH-60 heliopters. The carrier sails with a large complement of other ships i.e destroyers, cruisers amd frigates. The carrier is also protected from submarine attack by it's own subs.

The Nimitz class has a full load displacement of 102,000 tons with a lenght of 1,092 feet and a maximim width of 252 feet. The 2 Westinghouse \ General Electric A4W/A1G nuclear-powered steam turbines provide 260,000 Hp to 4 shafts to drive the ship at over 30 Knots.

The ship is protected from attack by 4 20mm Vulcan cannons mounted on the Phalanx close-in-weapon system, also by 3 octuple Sea Sparrow launchers. The carrier can also trail a torpedo decoy called a Nixie to confuse any torpedo launched at it. This coupled with the immense fire power of the escorting AEGIS equipped escort make an Air-To-Surface attack on the carrier group extreamly difficult.

The Nimitz class is really an improved Forrestal class design. The first of this class was delivered in 1975. This was to be the first of a planned 9 ships.