Initially commissioned in the early 1990s, George Washington is a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier capable of deploying 60 aircraft with steam catapult-assisted launches. -During its ...

See the ex-USS John F. Kennedy, the Navy's last conventionally powered aircraft carrier, which was in a class of its own.

that launches aircraft from the ship electronically, rather than using steam-powered equipment. President-elect Donald Trump previously called for a 12-carrier Navy during his first term as ...

Earlier Chinese carriers had ski-jump-style ramps for launching aircraft without catapults, leaping past steam-power catapult technology to pursue the more advanced electromagnetic launch system.