Building a supercarrier is a uniquely American enterprise. There are 21 aircraft carriers in service around the globe; 11 belong to the United States. A few other nations—Britain, Spain and India—have plans to build aircraft carriers. But no one else makes them this large or with such advanced capabilities. No one else is about to try.The last time American engineers designed a carrier from scratch, in the 1960s, they drew the ship in ink and built full-scale wooden models to prove their designs. Then, the construction-yard workers had to figure out how to put the ship together. Things work a little differently in 2009. Now, engineers and foremen can wander around a mockup of the ship without wearing helmets or boots. All they have to do is slip on chunky black glasses, stare at a screen and step inside the ship’s CAD plan.
Phenomenal article by my bud Noah Shachtman, read the whole damn thing.
One of my neighbors growing up was in charge of all carrier construction at the shipyard for a long period of time. His last carrier was the Enterprise.
The CAD system is really a great design tool.