# If an Nimitz class aircraft carrier was found in a cornfield in Kansas...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 8, 2012, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794 "2012-01-08T03:51:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 37

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Rhythmdvl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/85f322/32.png) [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)\
**Post date:** [January 9, 2012, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794/37 "2012-01-09T11:53:40Z")

</div>

What about dirigibles? Wasn’t there a recent documentary (narrated by Ed Asner, I think) about the lifting power of lighter than air mechanisms?

Doing a quick Google search finds a bit of [information](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=399202)(warning; site is full of flakes):

> [@How much can a modern dirigible lift?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-can-a-modern-dirigible-lift/383282/2):
>
> [Air at STP](http://physics.kenyon.edu/EarlyApparatus/Pneumatics/Density_of_Air/Density_of_Air.html) masses 0.077345 pounds per cubic foot.  
> [Hindenburg carried a gas volume](http://www.ciderpresspottery.com/ZLA/greatzeps/german/Hindenburg.html) of 7,062,000 cubic feet.  
> Filled with vacuum that’d lift 546231.6 pounds (273 tons).
> 
> 7,062,000 cubic feet of is 199,973,571 liters.  
> At STP, that’s 8,927 moles of gas.  
> 8,927 moles of H[sub]2[/sub] masses 17,854 grams-\> 39.3 pounds.  
> 8,927 moles of He masses masses 35,708 grams -\> 78.7 pounds.
> 
> 546231.6 - 39.3 = 546,192.3 pounds = Hydrogen filled Hindenburg lift capacity.  
> 546231.6 - 78.7 = 546152.9 pounds = Helium filled Hindenburg lift capacity.
> 
> The above assumes zero mass lift bags, and structure for the Zeppelin. Regardless, modern matterials can probably trim off more than the 39 pound lift deficit incurred by using helium rather than hydrogen.

So does that mean each Hindenburg-equivalent will lift 546,000 pounds?

How much does an aircraft carrier weigh? The easiest cite I can find is on [Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nimitz_class_aircraft_carrier), which says that recent carriers were build by connecting 1,500,000 pound sections.

So, does that mean if you attach about 3 Hindenburg-equivalents per section, you could float it a few feet off the ground and tow it?

There is still the problem of support and cabling. Perhaps a cargo-net like mesh filled with bubble-wrap will provide the necessary support and water-like structure to hold the ship intact.

---

_[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-an-nimitz-class-aircraft-carrier-was-found-in-a-cornfield-in-kansas/608794)._