The 11 Biggest Warships on Earth

By Douglas A. McIntyre Published Sep 1, 11:53AM EDT

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The 11 Biggest Warships on Earth — © LorraineHudgins / Getty Images

The United States has historically held the title of the world’s most dominant navy since the end of World War II. But according to at least one measure, this supremacy is no longer absolute. China now possesses a larger fleet when considering the total number of ships, although the United States still maintains a leading position when factoring in size and strength. The U.S. has the world’s largest warships — American aircraft carriers. China has also ventured into carrier construction, currently having two in operation and one more under construction. (These are the six nations besides the United States with aircraft carriers.)

The older of the two U.S. carrier classes is the Nimitz-class carrier, named in honor of World War II Pacific fleet admiral Chester Nimitz. This class, first launched in 1975, saw the commissioning of ten carriers. They measure 1,092 feet in length, displace 100,000 long tons, reach a maximum speed of 30 knots, and generate 260,000 shaft horsepower from their engines. With a crew of approximately 6,000, each carrier came at a cost of approximately $9 billion. (These are the states with the most veterans.)

Replacing the Nimitz-class carriers are the Gerald R. Ford-class carriers, of which the Navy intends to have ten eventually. They share similar dimensions with their predecessors, measuring 1,092 feet in length and having a comparable displacement. The price tag for these new carriers is estimated at around $12 billion each, with a crew complement of approximately 4,000. The first four carriers in this class have already been named: Gerald R. Ford (commissioned in 2017), John F. Kennedy (scheduled for 2024), Enterprise (scheduled for 2028), and Doris Miller (scheduled for 2032).

However, the Navy has encountered various issues during the early stages of constructing the Ford-class carriers. According to the Congressional Research Service, “In addition to challenges in building, testing, and certifying the ship’s weapon elevators, the Navy reportedly has been working to address problems with other systems on the ship, including its propulsion and electrical systems.”

Beyond these two U.S. carrier classes, the largest warships in the world belong to China, Russia, and France. (These are America’s largest military bases around the world.)

To determine the world’s largest warships, 24/7 Wall St. conducted a review of ship lengths worldwide, using data from Military Machine. Information regarding ship class, name, and country of origin is also sourced from Military Machine.

Click here to see the world’s largest warship

JMSDF CVH JS Izumo in Ocean by u6d77u4e0au81eau885bu968a

JMSDF CVH JS Izumo in Ocean (CC BY-SA 4.0) by u6d77u4e0au81eau885bu968a

11. Izumo-Class Helicopter Destroyer
> Country: Japan
> Length (in feet): 814

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Kirov-class battlecruiser by MITSUO SHIBATA

Kirov-class battlecruiser (CC0 1.0) by MITSUO SHIBATA

10. Kirov-class Cruiser
> Country: Russia
> Length (in feet): 827

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USS Wasp (LHD-1) Osprey 2 by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Zachary L. Borden

USS Wasp (LHD-1) Osprey 2 (CC0 1.0) by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Zachary L. Borden

9. Wasp-Class Amphibious Assault ship
> Country: United States
> Length (in feet): 843

8. America-Class Amphibious Assault Ship
> Country: United States
> Length (in feet): 844

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7. Charles De Gaulle-Class Aircraft Carrier
> Country: France
> Length (in feet): 858

FS Clemenceau (R98) side view by NetMarine

FS Clemenceau (R98) side view (CC BY-SA 3.0) by NetMarine

6. Clemenceau-Class Aircraft Carrier
> Country: France
> Length (in feet): 869

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The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) leads a formation of ships from the Indian Navy, JMSDF and the U.S. Navy July 17, 2017 in the Bay of Bengal as part of Exercise Malabar 2017 (CC0 1.0) by U.S. Navy

5. Indian-Modified Kiev-Class Carrier
> Country: India
> Length (in feet): 896

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Aircraft Carrier Liaoning CV-16 by Baycrest

Aircraft Carrier Liaoning CV-16 (CC BY-SA 2.5) by Baycrest

4. Chinese Completed Kuznetsov-Class Aircraft Carrier
> Country: China
> Length (in feet): 999

3. Kuznetsov-Class Carrier
> Country: Russia
> Length (in feet): 1,001

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2. Nimitz-Class Aircraft Carrier
> Country: United States
> Length (in feet): 1,092

1. Ford-Class Aircraft Carrier
> Country: United States
> Length (in feet): 1,092

About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.