Treaty-era limits no longer constrain carrier scale

At roughly 82,000 tons fully loaded, the Forrestals displaced about three times the 27,000-ton treaty comparison point. Their light displacement was around 61,000 tons, placing even the unloaded ship far beyond treaty-era carrier expectations. USS United States had been projected at roughly 68,250 tons light and 83,000 tons full, so its successor occupied much the same scale. Forrestal was only several metres shorter and had a much broader flight deck. The angled deck accounted for part of that breadth, and the comparison shows how closely the new class revived the scale abandoned with USS United States.