3 Aircraft Carrier

Big, Bigger, Biggest... Aircraft Carrier reveals how seven ingenious technological breakthroughs have enabled engineers to build the world’s biggest Aircraft Carrier - the USS Nimitz.

The USS Nimitz is one of the most complex machines ever built by humankind. Highly pressurized steam catapults power 45,000-pound jet aircraft from 0 to 165 miles per hour in just 2 seconds. The arresting wire system can stop a 54,000-pound aircraft travelling at 150 miles per hour in only two seconds, in only a 315-foot landing area.

But it is much more than simply a floating airport. It is a city at sea. A city for equipped to service up to 6,000 personnel.

Chefs prepare over 20,000 meals a day, its hairdressers perform 1,500 haircuts a week and its post room processes more than one million pounds of mail each year.

This mighty ship is powered by its very own nuclear reactors, which can provide power for over 20 years without needing to ever refuel.

But the USS Nimitz wasn’t built in a day.

It stands on the shoulders of a series of historic engineering achievements that have allowed it to get so big. We chart the stories of seven historic inventions, embodied by seven landmark aircraft carriers – giants of the warship world, that enabled the creation of the USS Nimitz today.

We show how catapults were developed on the USS North Carolina to launch aircraft and how the Island developed on board the HMS Ark Royal to act as a control centre. We reveal how arrestor wires developed on the USS Hornet aid jet aircraft to land. We visit the USS Midway to explore the evolution of the armoured deck and the USS Forrestal to show how mirror-landing aids developed. We also reveal how nuclear propulsion was pioneered with the building of the USS Enterprise and demonstrate how ‘mega-block’ construction techniques were invented to build the USS Nimitz class Carrier today.

One by one - travelling up the scale - we’ll reveal the incredible stories behind these structures and the inventions that drove them to get even heavier. Seven ingenious leaps forward that enabled aircraft carriers to evolve... from BIG to BIGGER into the World’s BIGGEST.

At every stage we show how each invention is applied in the USS Nimitz. We explore the ships island, the nerve centre of the vessel, to show how the movements of over 80 aircraft are tightly monitored and co-ordinated; from hi-tech radar and communication antennas to a simple ouija board with nuts and bolts.

We reveal how this warship defends itself from enemy attack. From its wing of planes that can target enemy fire hundreds of miles away from the carrier right down to the admiral’s very own pistol.

We show how the biggest aircraft carriers in the world today are put together like huge 3D jigsaw sets; requiring over 160 superlifts from a crane that can lift 900 tonnes – more than the combined weight of 2 jumbo jets!

Over 50% of the film is set in a stunning and stylish CGI world, where our seven inventions and landmark aircraft carriers come to life. Combined with live action visual effects and practical demonstrations this film provides the ultimate explanation of how ingenious technology enabled the aircraft carrier to evolve into the ultimate warship – the USS Nimitz.