The United States built two similarly sized aircraft carriers a few years apart, the USS John F. Kennedy [CV-67, 1,052 ft (321 m) overall] and the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower [CVN-69, 1,092 feet (332.8 m overall]. The Ike is nuclear powered and the Kennedy burned oil. When steaming all-ahead-flank on all four screws, launching aircraft off all three steam catapults, cooking 4,500 meals for lunch, and desalinating sea water into fresh, the Kennedy got 13 inches to the gallon of marine distillate fuel oil.That meant 1000 gallons were burned for the Kennedy just to travel its own length. Or over 125 million gallons to circumnavigate the Pacific Ocean once.The Ike uses almost no fuel to carry out the same mission. The Ike steamed for 20 years on a chunk of uranium the size of a grapefruit, and is still active today. The Kennedy is mothballed.
