re: #422 lawhawk

Let’s take the 1921 Washington Naval Treaty figures, which limited fleet tonnage and ship size. That put a total of 525,000 tons towards capital ships and 135,000 tons for aircraft carriers.

That was a maximum limit.

The Lexington and Saratoga were built under the treaty limits, were 27,000 tons apiece (both were built upon hulls meant for cruisers that were outlawed under the treaty).

The Nimitz class carriers? They’re 100,000 tons. Apiece. Never need refueling for propulsion (refueling is needed regularly for embarked aircraft - since storage of fuel can now fill spaces that would have been relegated for ship fueling).

Not entirely true, they do require refueling, but only one every so many years. And generally refueling is part of the refit schedule, rather than something that mission-planners have to take into account. We used to have nuclear cruisers and destroyers as well, but the latter was seen as too cost-ineffective, while the latter were all retired as a result of the Cold War ending.