USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), the ninth and penultimate Nimitz-class supercarrier, was the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for former President of the United States Ronald Reagan.

The contract to build Reagan was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia on 8 December 1994 and her keel was laid down on 12 February 1998. She was launched on 10 March 2001 sponsored by Ronald Reagan's wife Nancy, and commissioned on 12 July 2003, with Captain J. W. Goodwin in command. At the commissioning ceremony, Mrs Reagan gave the ship's crew their first order as an active unit of the Navy: "Man the ship and bring her to life." President Reagan died eleven months later. At his funeral, the ship's then-current commanding officer, Navy Captain James Symonds , presented the flag that draped the former president's casket to Mrs Reagan. This was also the flag that had flown over Capitol Hill on January 20, 1981, when the president was inaugurated. Captain Symonds also presented Mrs Reagan the flag that had been flying over the Ronald Reagan when the former president died.

Ronald Reagan displaces approximately 95,000 tons of water fully loaded and has a top speed of over 30 knots, powered by two nuclear reactors driving four screws, and can sail for 20 years before refueling. She is nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall at 1,092 feet (333 m) and is 134 feet (41 m) wide at the beam and has a flight deck 252 feet (77 m) wide. The flight deck covers over 4.5 acres (18,000 m²). She carries more than 5,500 sailors and over 80 aircraft.

During her transfer from the Atlantic to the Pacific, she transitted the Straits of Magellan. Her home port is San Diego, California.

Former First lady Nancy Reagan christens the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan as President George W. Bush, left and Newport News Shipbuilding CEO William Frick look on.

External link

• The official Ronald Reagan web site
• An unofficial USS Ronald Reagan webpage