# How far "inland" can I get a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier? **URL:** \ **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:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/41 "2009-06-29T15:06:32Z")
The Suez Canal is 119 miles long, and Nimitz-class carriers transit it all of the time. ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/42 "2009-06-29T15:23:10Z")
> [@Scuba\_Ben](#): > > Why would you want to put a _Nimitz_ carrier inland on a river? With tanker support, the carrier’s aircraft could depart from the Gulf of Mexico, buzz Chicago, and land off San Diego. It’s my understanding that the Navy sometimes takes ships up the Columbia river for a time as a cheap way to kill saltwater molluscs. I can’t find a cite, somebody in the Coast Guard stationed at Portland Oregon told me that. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/43 "2009-06-29T15:59:59Z")
> [@](#): > > Nope, the only two aircraft carriers that ever got near Chicago were the Wolverine and the Sable, a couple of paddle wheel car carriers passenger vessels converted for training flights. Other ships of this class were the _USS Deadpool_, assigned to Lake Champlain, the _USS Punisher_, which cruised the Great Salt Lake, and the _USS Lobo_, which defended Lake Tahoe. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/44 "2009-06-29T16:25:50Z")
I understand the USS _Spider-Man_ could easily have prevented the Korean War but didn’t and learned a valuable lesson as a result. ---
**Author:** ![Scuba\_Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/278dde/32.png) [@Scuba\_Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scuba_Ben)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/45 "2009-06-29T16:42:47Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Parties basically. An aircraft carrier is the ultimate party barge. There is tons of stuff on them to raise hell with. There is no way a chick isn’t going to put out after you take her on a drunken ride in an F-16 on full afterburner. I hear the water skiing is pretty good too. And then she’ll slap you in the morning for taking her on a ride in an **Air Force** plane. (How the heck did you land the F-16 on a carrier?) You should’ve taken your joyride in an F/A-18F. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/46 "2009-06-29T18:11:31Z")
> [@](#): > > I understand the USS Spider-Man could easily have prevented the Korean War but didn’t and learned a valuable lesson as a result. With great air superiority comes great responsibility. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/47 "2009-06-29T18:14:30Z")
> [@](#): > > How the heck did you land the F-16 on a carrier? The key factor here is “drunken”. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/48 "2009-06-29T18:15:48Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > You could let some air out of the tires. Cite? The weight of the air on all the tires all the airplanes and cars on a modern carrier is probably only about a… oh wait. ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/49 "2009-06-29T18:28:23Z")
Based on the size of the Nimitz vs the local water volume, I bet you could cycle the engines on and off at the right tempo to get the river water to slosh back and forth, much like a kid in a bathtub. Time it right, and the Nimitz could “slosh” right over many shallow areas, and perhaps even under many bridges. ---
**Author:** ![Silophant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a698b9/32.png) [@Silophant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silophant)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/50 "2009-06-29T22:31:59Z")
We’re talking about a ship that weighs more than two hundred million pounds. If it can’t cruise right through any given bridge in it’s way, it isn’t trying. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2009, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236/51 "2009-06-29T23:54:08Z")
> [@Silophant](#): > > We’re talking about a ship that weighs more than two hundred million pounds. If it can’t cruise right through any given bridge in it’s way, it isn’t trying. It’s not the deck of the bridge that gets you, its the gashes their concrete pylons put in your hull below the waterline. Google “Cosco Busan”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-far-inland-can-i-get-a-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier/501236.md?page=2)