New Delhi : USS Nimitz (CVN 68), US Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and world’s largest warship armed with F/A-18F Super Hornets as well as F/A-18E Super Hornets, will exercise with the Indian Navy near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands today (Monday, July 20, 2020). The US-India Passex (passing exercise) involving the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group off the Andaman and Nicobar coast in Malacca Strait will send out a strong message to China which has been trying to aggressively expand its borders by illegally encroaching on land and sea belonging to its neighbours.
The India-US Passex in Malacca Strait comes just a few weeks after the USS Nimitz and USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) strike groups carried out wargames in the Philippine Sea. The show of strength by the US Navy involving two of its most lethal carrier strike groups near the maritime boundary of China was a clear signal to the communist nation to not rile its neighbours.
USS Nimitz and Indian Navy’s Passex exercise in Malacca Strait, the narrow stretch between Malaysia and Indonesia and one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world, will strengthen the bond between the two nations. Malacca Strait is a crucial global sea lane through which considerable global oil flows to the rest of Asia including China.
USS Nimitz details and features
USS Nimitz is named after US World War II Pacific fleet commander Chester W Nimitz and the country’s third fleet admiral. Built by Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding Company, Newport News, Virginia, USS Nimitz was commissioned on May 3, 1975.
Powered by two nuclear reactors, four steam turbines and four shafts, the ship generates 194 megawatts of power. USS Nimitz is 332.85 metres long with its beam 40.84 metres high and the flight deck 76.8 metres wide. The warship displaces 1,00,020 tonnes and has a maximum speed of 31.5 knots (58.3 kilometres per hour). Due to its nuclear reactors, the warship can technically have unlimited endurance.
The warship has a crew of over 6000 including Navy personnel, the air wing and marines with almost 90 aircraft including fighters. Its armament includes Sea Sparrow and RIM-116 Rolling Airframe missiles along with two PHALANX CIWS (Close-In Weapons System) Gatling guns, four MK 38 25mm autocannon turrets and 10 0.50 calibre turret emplacements
Its air wing includes Boeing F/A-18F Super Hornets, F/A-18E Super Hornets, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18C Hornets, Boeing EA-18G Growlers, Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeyes, Sikorsky MH-60S Seahawks, MH-60R Seahawks and Grumman C-2 Greyhound aircraft.
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