USS Theodore Roosevelt Flight Ops

Topics to Explore

• U.S. Navy

  • How has the location of the Navy’s aircraft carriers shaped U.S. military options?
  • What issues have driven debate over the Navy’s size and configuration?
  • What did President George W. Bush emphasize about America’s international role in his 2003 aircraft-carrier address?

• Nimitz-class carriers

  • How have Nimitz-class carriers figured in proposals to update aircraft-carrier design?
  • How did the 2015 debate over defense spending caps involve Nimitz-class carriers?
  • How do proposals to reform Navy bureaucracy address the availability of Nimitz-class carriers?

• Aircraft carriers

  • What arguments have been offered for retaining aircraft carriers in America’s defense arsenal?
  • Why have critics called for replacing aircraft carriers as a means of projecting U.S. power?
  • What problems with the USS Gerald R. Ford’s weapons elevators prompted calls for aircraft-carrier design changes?