# How far "inland" can I get a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 28, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236 "2009-06-28T02:41:35Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/1 "2009-06-28T02:41:35Z")
…as in up a river, or a waterway? (Weird yet straightforward enough, I think)
I’m no expert, though I’m guessing the answer is “not far”…as much as that spoils my plans for one kick-ass Amazon cruise, but it’s been pestering me for awhile, and I thought I’d ask, just to be sure.
---
### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/2 "2009-06-28T02:47:31Z")
[Here](http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/nimitz/)go nuts
Dimensions:
Length 317 meters
Beam 40.8 meters
Draught 11.9 meters
(CVN 72-76) - Flight Deck333m x 77m
Displacement 102,000t, full load
(CVN 72-76) - Performance:Speed30kt
---
### Author:  [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/3 "2009-06-28T02:48:13Z")
This is just an (informed) guess but the Mississippi river can handle giant ships including supertankers from the Gulf of Mexico to New Orleans easily. The river has been dredged all the way to Baton Rouge to handle large ships and an aircraft aircraft carrier may be able to make it that far as well. In total, that would be over 100 miles inland.
---
### Author:  [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/4 "2009-06-28T02:48:21Z")
According to Wikipedia:
> [@](#):
>
> Length: 1,040 ft (317 m) waterline
> 1,115 ft (340 m) overall
>
> Beam: 134 ft (41 m) waterline
> 257 ft (78 m) extreme
>
> Draft: 40 feet (12 m)
So that better be a pretty deep, pretty wide river, especially if you want to turn around.
---
### Author:  [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/5 "2009-06-28T03:10:56Z")
The Nimitz is post-Panamax which means it’s too big to go through the Panama Canal.
Here’s a list of [deep water ports](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deep_water_ports) which according to the article means that it can support a Panamax ship. This of course does not mean that it can support a Nimitz class aircraft carrier.
I’m guessing that the St. Lawrence seaway might be the furthest inland, depending on how you define it. I have no idea how far you can get into it.
For the hell of it the Scoresby Sund is 350 kilometers or 217 miles long, which is the world’s longest fjord.
All in all I’d guess Port Cartier, an iron ore terminal on the St Lawrence River, which is southwest of Quebec. This assumes that you are not considering the Black Sea inland, which I think you could drive the Nimitz to.
---
### Author:  [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/6 "2009-06-28T03:16:49Z")
You can probably get to Portland Oregon on the Columbia River.
[http://www.portofportland.com/Nvgt\_Home.aspx](http://www.portofportland.com/Nvgt_Home.aspx)
---
### Author:  [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/7 "2009-06-28T03:26:46Z")
> [@ghardester](#):
>
> You can probably get to Portland Oregon on the Columbia River.
>
> [http://www.portofportland.com/Nvgt\_Home.aspx](http://www.portofportland.com/Nvgt_Home.aspx)
Nope. Your link says the channel is only 40 feet deep. Also, there are two bridges that wouldn’t pass a carrier.
---
### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/8 "2009-06-28T03:27:11Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I’m guessing that the St. Lawrence seaway might be the furthest inland, depending on how you define it. I have no idea how far you can get into it.
I was thinking the same thing, but the channel to Montreal appears a trifle too shallow (11.3 meters). However far it can get up the St. Lawrence River, it certainly can’t fit through the locks past Montreal.
---
### Author:  [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/9 "2009-06-28T03:32:28Z")
I should have read Darryl’s link. Longveiw, Kalama, and Portland/Vancouver are on the Panamax list. (That’s Vancouver Wash.)
Don’t know why Astoria OR is not on the list. It’s at the mouth. Docking at the port probably not kept dredged deep enough. The battleship Missouri made a visit there before it’s retirement.
---
### Author:  [@MC\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_E)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/10 "2009-06-28T03:32:54Z")
The Chesapeake bay is 200 miles from the Atlantic Ocean to the mouth of the Susquehanna river. The channel is at least 50 feet deep to Baltimore, roughly 175 miles up the Bay.
---
### Author:  [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/11 "2009-06-28T04:03:39Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#):
>
> Nope. Your link says the channel is only 40 feet deep. Also, there are two bridges that wouldn’t pass a carrier.
Bridges would be a major limit on a lot of rivers.
---
### Author:  [@AdmiralCrunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AdmiralCrunch)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/12 "2009-06-28T04:36:44Z")
> [@Snnipe\_70E](#):
>
> Bridges would be a major limit on a lot of rivers.
Well, it is an aircraft carrier. Bridges are kinda susceptible to bombing.
---
### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/13 "2009-06-28T04:53:19Z")
> [@AdmiralCrunch](#):
>
> Well, it is an aircraft carrier. Bridges are kinda susceptible to bombing.
But then you’d just fill up the river with bridge debris.
---
### Author:  [@Snnipe\_70E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snnipe_70E)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/14 "2009-06-28T04:58:43Z")
> [@AdmiralCrunch](#):
>
> Well, it is an aircraft carrier. Bridges are kinda susceptible to bombing.
I thought the carrier was going up river on a cruze. In a war that would be the last I would want to go on a carrier.
---
### Author:  [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/15 "2009-06-28T05:01:44Z")
I guess the [Los Angeles River](http://www.you-are-here.com/location/la_river5.jpg) is out.
---
### Author:  [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/16 "2009-06-28T06:52:28Z")
I wonder if you could get it as far as Manaus, on the Amazon. Lots of large ocean-going vessels can make it that far, but I don’t know if anything quite that big could make it.
---
### Author:  [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/17 "2009-06-28T07:02:35Z")
I suppose blimps are out of the question?
Perhaps the carrier could deballast although I have no idea about that. Certainly there would be some method of reducing the draft.
---
### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/18 "2009-06-28T09:34:57Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I’m guessing that the St. Lawrence seaway might be the furthest inland, depending on how you define it. I have no idea how far you can get into it.
The St Lawrence equivalent of Panamax is Seawaymax - the dimensions of a ship that can pass through the canal locks on the St Lawrence Seaway. Seawaymax vessels are 740 feet (226 m) in length, 78 feet (24 m) wide, and have a draft of 26 feet (7.92 m). The _Nimitz_ is too big.
The river itself is dredged to 12 meters up to Quebec City. Past that it’s only 11 meters. So it looks like that’s as far as the _Nimitz_ could go.
---
### Author:  [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 9:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/19 "2009-06-28T09:54:57Z")
> [@bibliophage](#):
>
> I wonder if you could get it as far as Manaus, on the Amazon. Lots of large ocean-going vessels can make it that far, but I don’t know if anything quite that big could make it.
The cruise ship [Artemis](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_(ship)) can make it as far as Manaus. Not quite as big as the Nimitz though.
---
### Author:  [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2009, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/20 "2009-06-28T11:38:18Z")
What about the other continents?
[Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236.md?page=2)