re: #380 thedopefishlives

Right, but the difference would more than be made up by the additional technologies you’d want to bring on board for dedicated search-and-rescue/humanitarian relief. I know Hornets are expensive planes, but they don’t cost that much. Not to mention as re: #378 sagehen mentioned, having the ship sitting idle 95% of the time is a colossal waste of all those taxpayer dollars. Our aircraft carriers are arguably the most efficient government spending we’ve ever invested in.

Looking things up. OK, the USS Ronald Reagan costs about 3 million dollars a day to operate. That puts it at 1.1 billion dollars a year. At ten years we’re looking at nearly 11 billion for operations. With a lifespan of 50 years that’s about 55 billion dollars. Not adjusted for inflation. That doesn’t include construction cost (nearly 5 billion) and the associated airwings and command.