USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70)
 The USS Carl Vinson returning home following support of Operation Enduring Freedom | |
| Career |  |
|---|---|
| Laid down: | 11 October 1975 |
| Launched: | 15 March 1980 |
| Commissioned: | 13 March 1982 |
| Fate: | on active service |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 78,180 t (light), 101,097 t (full) |
| Length: | 1,092 ft |
| Beam: | 134 ft |
| Extreme Width: | 252 ft |
| Draft: | 31 ft |
| Speed: | 35 knots |
| Complement: | 3,200 officers and men |
| Armament: | 3 Sea Sparrow Surface-to-air missiles, 4 x 20mm CIWS |
| Aircraft: | 85-90 |
The 1,092-foot USS Carl Vinson is a United States Navy Nimitz class aircraft carrier commissioned in 1982, which carries F/A-18 Hornets and F-14 Tomcats as well as surveillance and other aircraft. It can carry 85 planes and 5,500 personnel. Very few ships of the United States Navy have been named for a person who was alive at the time of the christening; the list includes Carl Vinson (CVN-70), Arleigh Burke (DDG-51), Jimmy Carter (SSN-23), Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), Hyman G. Rickover (SSN-709), Bob Hope (T-AKR-300), and George H. W. Bush (CVN-77).
A member of the United States House of Representatives for fifty years, Carl Vinson was, for twenty-nine years, the Chairman of the House Naval Affairs and Armed Services Committee.