Supercarrier Supercarrier is an unofficial descriptive term for the largest type of aircraft carrier , usually displacing over 65 , 000 long tons . The U . S . Navy currently has 10 such ships . In comparison , a few countries operate what are , by today ' s standards , medium carriers ( fleet carrier ) of around 42 , 000 tons , such as the French aircraft carrier " Charles de Gaulle " ( R91 ) . The size and configuration of the " Charles de Gaulle " corresponds closely with the 45 , 000 - ton the United States built at the end of World War II as a successor class to the much more numerous 27 , 000 - ton , mainstay vessels of WWII after 1943 when they entered service . Internationally , light carrier s closer to 20 , 000 tons ( such as HMS " Illustrious " ) are more typical . The United Kingdom has two Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier s currently under construction , the first of which is expected to be delivered in 2016 . They will displace 70 , 600 metric tons ( up from an original estimate of 65 , 000 ) and , when built , will be the third largest Supercarrier class in service . Supercarriers are the largest warship s ever built , eclipsing even the largest battleship class laid down by any country . History . The first ship to be described by " The New York Times " as a supercarrier was in 1938 ; with a length of 685 ft and a displacement of 22 , 000 tons , it was designed to carry 72 aircraft . In 1943 , the superlative was transferred to the 45 , 000 - ton carriers of the as a step - up from the 27 , 000 - ton . The post - war standard for supercarriers was set by the proposed and . " Forrestal " displaced 60 , 000 tons standard and 78 , 000 tons in deep load and is considered the first operational supercarrier in the present - day sense , as dubbed by the American press . The similarly sized " United States " would have been in service earlier , had it been completed ; its cancellation triggered the " Revolt of the Admirals " . The Soviet Union ' s 85 , 000 - ton nuclear carrier " Ulyanovsk " , closely comparable in size to earlier American supercarriers , was 40 % complete when it and a follow - on vessel were canceled in 1991 during post - Cold War funding cuts . The United States is no longer alone in building supercarriers , with the United Kingdom building two 70 , 600 - ton carriers , and France considering building one vessel , possibly based on the same design . These ships are routinely referred to as supercarriers by British legislators and the media . The two vessels will provide the Royal Navy with capabilities much closer to United States Navy carriers than its current vessels . Giving evidence to the House of Commons Defence Committee , the then First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Alan West explained that interoperability with the United States Navy was as much a deciding factor of the size of the carriers as the firepower of the carrier ' s airwing : Future plans for supercarriers in the United States involve the construction of the U . S . Navy ' s next generation of carriers , the , which will have a 100 , 000 - ton displacement . Alternatives . The United States maintains ten of these ships . Given their vulnerability to conventional and asymmetrical threats , more and smaller carriers have been suggested over the years , such as Elmo Zumwalt ' s Sea Control Ship , and carriers the size of carrying STOVL and UCAV aircraft . However , supercarriers ' advocates consider them to be more cost - effective than smaller carriers . An American carrier strike group costs $ 25 million per week for routine operations , rising to $ 40 million during combat operations . The mobile offshore base ( MOB ) is a concept for a modular floating military base as large as 10 aircraft carriers . If realized , it could be moved anywhere throughout the world ' s oceans , obviating the need to seek permission from allied nations for use of land bases . The concept was studied in the 1990s by the U . S . government but was abandoned in 2001 as cost prohibitive .