Source: Team SADA
USS Nimitz, The first of the Nimitz class Super Carriers of the US Navy, and also one of the most combat active in its class being commissioned first. Laid down in 1968 and commissioned in 1975,
it is codenamed CVN-68 and is still in active service.
It has displacement of One lakh tonnes and a overall length of 317 meters, and waterline of 317 meters. it has a beam of 76.8 meters and draft of 11.3 meters. It is propelled by two westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors which drives four steam turbines and 4 shafts, generating a power of 194MW of power. Nimitz can achieve a speed of 58 kilometers per hour or 31 knots maximum speed. It is operated by a crewe of 3,200 members including both ships crew and the air wing crew which consists of 2,480. The ship has taken part in several wars fought by the us and also has undergone many refits in the timeline.
Now the USS Nimitz is up for its midlife refit along with which it has to undergo refueling for its nuclear reactors. The United States Navy and the pentogon has not yet finalized to what to do with the fate of the Nimitz either to retire it or to refuel it for future activities. Now currently US is building two more Ford class carriers as the first carrier has already in sea trials which carries the first contigent of full load of f35's and the F22's.
US in the past had offered the USS Kitty Hawk an conventional powered aircraft carrier. Which saw no takers in India for unknown reasons. However if offered India may accept the USS Nimitz for its Navy, which will enable the India to operate both imported Rafael Marine variant and the Indegenious Tejas Naval variant for the fleet of the Nimitz. The improving partnership between the India and the United states, which is a bit staggered due to the Iran and the Russian sanctions effect, with whom India has the most friendly relations in par with the US and the Israel.
US Nimitz if bought by India will be a crown jewel of the Indian armed forces with Russian built Vikramaditya and the Vikrant which is built indegeneously at Cochin shipyard in southern India, this will realise the dream of the Indian Navy dream of operating three carriers. Though India lacks the fleet compliment and resources to maintain the Nimitz for which it has to depend on the US, setting up a local repair center in India will enable it to repair the US super carriers in India, setting up logistical support and enabling skill development for Indian shipyard in handling the super carriers. Indian shipyards too are moving in the same direction expanding their dock capacities to handle super ships and super crude carriers.
USS Nimitz offers India an imediate strategic edge over china enabling it to projects its power in the Indian ocean doubling Indian navy carrier capability and air dominance capabilities. The biggest destroyers in the Indian navy to be commissioned may be form the escort fleet for minitz along with the SSK's and upcoming SSN's. Talwar class frigates and Kamorta class corvetts also form the escort company for Nimitz. USS Enterprise which is in reserve with the US navy is also an asset Indian navy could operate but would burden the logistics with four different carrier ships. and three different kind of the aircraft fleet. Nimitz capability with Indian navy shall oversee the Malacca strait in the East to check the chinese influence and can dominate the arabian sea, Karwar Naval base or the Mumbai naval base may act as the home port for the Nimitz.
Chinese immediate projection of carrier fleet whicha are indegeneously built can only be equelled with acquiring such off the shelf second handed carriers from England and US with modifications to carry both Indian and the French aircraft, Rafael Marine variant is in the frontline and logistically affordable with Airforce operating a similar one in near future. In the immediate vicinity India needs three pronged approach to tackle the increasing pakistan and chinese naval influence in the Indian ocean. Maldives is been the one of the example. Pakistan on the other end is spearheading its small naval fleet with cruise missiles to have edge over numerically superior Indian navy in the region.
1. Investing its money in small ships to defence its territory and form the light strike groups, and to continue the current phase of modernisation plan with acquisition of a single carrier every fifteen years. and construction of limited numbers of submarines. Multiply the airbases in the Andaman Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep islands which can act as the unsinkable aircraft carriers and overlooks the chinese influence in the region.
2. Focus on the carrier fleet with more Vikrant class carriers which can be built in half the time period of existing experience, and continue with the long term plan of super carriers.
3. Acquire the second handed aircraft carriers with modernisations to support potent weapon platforms to be operated from them. This will though pose a logistical nightmare to the Indian navy, it enables the navy goals to dominate the indian ocean till the half of the 21st century.
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