American aircraft carrier in Cape Town

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt arrived in Table Bay today on a courtesy visit, amidst some controversy. Both Earthlife Africa and The Anti-War Coalition had said they intended to stage protests at the V&A Waterfront today to express their concern about the arrival of the ship. This is the first time a nuclear-powered vessel has visited Cape Town since the German cargo ship the Otto Hahn docked here in the 1970s.

The Big Stick, as the vessel is known, is 332m long and carries over 5,000 crew members. Read more about this mind-boggling beast here and here, and see a Google Maps image of it here. There is apparently a 2-nautical-mile No Fly zone around the ship, by the way; and I figure it's probably a good idea to heed that. ;-)

You can see a few more shots of the USS Theodore Roosevelt on Cape Town Daily Photo Extras. The ship is docked far out in the bay, for security reasons, so bear in mind that we had to zoom in quite a bit...