I've never wanted a Ford beforeFollow

So he's improving, then.

Never been a fan of Japanese cars, but the 350z has really grown on me.

Also, it would leave me standing

They're similar to the Aston Martin and the Alfa-Romeo.

A petrol-head's car - when behaving, a delight and a joy - enough to put up with the quirkiness

Yep I love it already. I had to drive it a couple miles in the snow last night. That was a joy let me tell you. The guy that traded in the 350Z I bought, got this brand new from the same dealership.

And no, that is not mine, But I have one that will look like that when I get finished with it.

Several reasons. The oldest Nimitz class carrier will begin reaching old age about the time the first one of these is ready for sea trials. So we really won't be getting more aircraft carriers, we'll just be replacing them as they age.

The new class carriers have several important upgrades over the old ones:
1. They use electromagnetic aircraft catepults and arresting gear. The electromagnetic system is about 1/500th the size of the older steam system, and eliminates literally 1/32nd of the weight of the older nimitz design just by removing the steam pipes and boilers. This is also a huge savings in maintenance costs. Steam is corrosive over time, and pipes are easy to damage when the aircraft carrier is under attack.

2. A complete rebuild of the electrical grid. The oldest nimitz class carriers use a proprietary military specification that was designed before anything like anti missile lasers was even considered remotely possible. They are pretty much at the limit of their electrical generation capability, and the electrical grid lacks redundant paths and excess capacity for future upgrades. By going with the new design, which uses more standard components and is much more efficient and robust, along with new generation reactors, the capacity to launch aircraft is increased and the ability to add up and coming weapons systems easily is preserved.

3. The new carriers are larger, but incorporate more automation, requireing a smaller crew. Les people we need to pay, or more people available for other ships.

4. With the steam system eliminated, there is more room for aviation gas and munitions for the aircraft.

5. The nimitz design is at it's weight limit. You really can't add any systems to it without risking it being too heavy and sinking. The ford class design has additional capacity built in.

So which area of the planet would you like us to not have covered by an aircraft carrier then? Middle east maybe? South asia? East or west coast? Africa? It's a big ******* ocean...

My nephew in navy is currently in Norfolk being train as Nuclear tect on the USS Enterprise and from what he saids about about the different systems he has to learn about, I think replacing all the aircraft carriers with new design makes lots of sense.

If America can't respond with deadly force to a problem anywhere in the world in under 6 days who knows what evils the savages that populate the rest of the Earth will get up to?