How Much Do Aircraft Carriers Weigh? (And Which Is The Heaviest?)

Seafaring ships are among the biggest moving objects ever made by man. The largest modern-day ships weigh several thousand tons, carry copious amounts of people (or cargo) depending on their use, and rival city blocks in terms of sheer size. While cargo ships and cruise ships top the charts as far as overall size and weight are concerned, there's another category of ships that are known for being absolutely massive: aircraft carriers.

These behemoths of the military are the largest military ship type ever to exist. Inherently complex in nature, aircraft carriers are difficult to manufacture, which makes them highly exclusive. As of 2025, only 51 ships categorized as aircraft carriers exist, with most of them (20) operated by the United States. Other countries that operate aircraft carriers include China (7), Japan (4), and France (4). India, Egypt, the United Kingdom, Italy, South Korea, and Australia each have two aircraft carriers.

Aircraft carriers are categorized into several types, ranging from aircraft cruisers and helicopter carriers to amphibious assault ships and supercarriers. The biggest (and heaviest) aircraft carriers in existence today are operated by the U.S. Navy, with the Gerald R. Ford class topping the charts. It has a full-load displacement exceeding 100,000 tons. Only a single Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier exists as of this writing, but more are in the pipeline in the coming few years. Slightly smaller than these behemoths are the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers that boast a displacement of roughly 97,000 tons.

Outside of the U.S., the largest aircraft carriers are operated by China, the largest of which is the Fujian-class aircraft carriers. Displacing 85,000 tons and nearly as long as the Nimitz-class ships at 316 meters, China's Fujian class has been dubbed the largest and most advanced aircraft carrier ever designed outside of the United States. As of this writing, the first of the Fujian class aircraft carriers is undergoing sea trials and is expected to enter service by August 2025. Slightly smaller than the Fujian-class ships is China's Shandong aircraft carrier. In active service since 2017, this ship displaces between 66,000 and 70,000 tons.

The U.K.'s largest aircraft carrier is the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers, which includes the HMS Queen Elizabeth (commissioned in December 2017) and the HMS Prince of Wales (commissioned in December 2019). Until the Chinese ships came into the picture, these were considered the world's third-largest carriers in terms of weight and displacement. They have a displacement of approximately 65,000 tons, measure roughly 284 meters in length, and have a maximum beam of 70 meters.

Russia's Kuznetsov-class carrier, which exceeds 300 meters in length, is nearly as long as America's Nimitz-class vessels. Only one carrier of this class exists: the Admiral Kuznetsov. It has a displacement of 58,600 tons, making it only slightly lighter than the U.K.'s Elizabeth-class and China's Shandong aircraft carriers. Other notable aircraft carriers can be counted among the world's biggest carriers include China's Liaoning (305 meters, 58,500 tons) and India's INS Vikramaditya (284 meters, 44,500 tons).