Drone Videos of Naval Ships

Contributor Spyder brings us an amazing (and apparently sanctioned) drone video of the US Navy aircraft carrier John C. Stennis cruising through Puget Sound, Washington en route to base at Bremerton.  Launched in 1995, the ship is one of ten Nimitz class nuclear powered carriers which have formed a pillar of US security for decades.  It's powered by two nuclear reactors that allow this behemoth to cruise at 30+ knots for months on end.  The video was shared with the ship's PR officer prior to upload.

Check out this fantastic drone video of the Fleet Flagship of the Royal Navy, compliments of top AirVuz contributor Stratus Imagery.  With full authorization from the relevant authorities, he was able to aerially film the HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier arriving in the harbor of Liverpool, England.  Named after the first (Tudor) Queen Elizabeth, the ship can carry up to 60 aircraft.  In service only since 2020, the Queen Elizabeth is 920 ft. long (280 m), displaces about 65k tons, and cruises at a top speed of 32 knots. 

Check out this drone video of the UK's newest aircraft carrier heading out to sea for the first time, compliments of contributor Hightning McQueen.  It's the HMS Prince of Wales, which is built around the F-35 short take-off and vertical landing aircraft (STOVL) aircraft.  The PoW is the second of the two planned Queen Elizabeth-class of small conventionally-powered carriers, the first of which was commissioned in December, 2017.  The 280 meter long ships (around 920 ft.) displace about 65k tons.  

In this video, AirVuz contributor and drone pilot PO3Smith put together a beautiful historical/drone footage edit on the battleship USS New Jersey, one of the USA's most storied combat ships.  The video starts with footage from the Iowa Class ship's engagements, which have made it the most-traveled ship of any US naval vessel.  The bulk of the video is drone footage of the great ship, which was launched in 1943 and decommissioned for the last time in 1991.  The New Jersey saw action in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam.  

Seen here in this drone video by contributor Lone Star Drones, the USS Texas is one of the USA's most storied warships.  The only surviving US Navy Dreadnought style warship, it was launched on the eve of World War I and saw extensive combat in both World Wars.  Since 1947, she's been a floating museum, docked in the Houston Ship Channel just below the San Jacinto Monument.  The ship has appeared in a number of movies, notably as one of the main filming locations for the 2001 quasi-historical film Pearl Harbor.  

Contributor PO3SMITH created this beautiful drone video of the USS Olympia, a storied US Navy battleship which was launched just a few years prior to the Dreadnaught class battleships which helped to escalate the European naval arms race.  The Olympia was launched in 1895, and it famously served as the flagship of Admiral of the Navy Dewey at the Battle of Manila, the critical naval clash of the Spanish-American War.  With a length of 105 meters (about 330 ft.) and displacing 5k tons, the ship was decommissioned in 1922.

Cruisers are the cavalry of the seas.  Not as heavily armed or armoured as battleships, these vessels are generally faster and (in their original conception) designed to run ahead of the main battle fleet.  In this video, contributor and pilot PO3SMITH gives us a drone's eye view of the  USS Salem, a Des Moines Class heavy cruiser launched shortly after World War II.  TThe 17k ton displacement ship was de-commissioned in 1959, as cruiser technology evolved away from guns towards missile armament.  

Check out this awesome drone video of a US Navy destroyer cruising the Bosphorus Strait near Istanbul, Turkey, compliments of contributor and pilot gokhanakman.  The USS Ross is a guided-missile destroyer of the Arleigh Burke (DDG-71) class, of which about five dozen have been built.  Launched in 1996, the ship is just under 155 meters (just over 500 ft.) long, with a displacement of about 9k tons.  Powered by four gas turbines producing over 100k of shaft horsepower, the ship can cruise at 30 knots.  

AirVuz contributor Bumble Bee Productions brings us this excellent drone video of the USS Alabama, one of the most storied ships in the history of the US Navy.  Measuring 680 ft. long (210 m), the South Dakota class ship was launched in February, 1942, just two months following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  Later in the war, the Alabama was attached to the famous Task Force 34 during the Battle of Leyte Gulf, considered the largest naval encounter in history.  It's now a floating museum in Mobile Bay, Alabama.    

Contributor PO3Smith put together this awesome aerial video of a US Coast Guard cutter cruising the Cape Cod Canal in Massachusetts.  The Sanibel is an Island class patrol boat.  These 30+ meter (110 ft) ships displace about 170 tons and are on the smaller end of the Coast Guard's fleet; they are used primarily for near-shore operations such as drug interdiction.  There are about three dozen still active as of 2019.  The video shows the Sanibel passing by a much larger barge, giving you a sense of relative sizes.   

Get a rare aerial view of a giant US Navy submarine in this fantastic drone video by AirVuz contributor and pilot Icarus Aerial Filming.  The USS Florida was one of 18 Ohio-class nuclear ballistic missile subs that were launched at the height of the Cold War in the early 1980's, the largest subs ever operated by the US Navy.  In the early 2000's, the Florida was one of four Ohio-class ships converted into a cruise missile platform to handle tactical rather than strategic missions.  

AirVuz contributor and drone pilot Omer Gokcen, managed to capture a Turkish submarine cruising the Straits of Bosphorus near Istanbul, Turkey.  The submarine he filmed is a Turkish Navy Type 209 diesel powered sub.  These subs are manufactured in Germany exclusively for export to foreign navies, the largest operator of which is the Turkish navy.  These submarines are armed with eight torpedo tubes, and the variant used by Turkey also carries Harpoon missiles.  Submerged, they can cruise at a speed of 42 km/hr (22 knots).  

Top contributor PO3SMITH used a drone to create this aerial video of a Canadian coastal defense ship, the HMCS Kingston.  Launched in 1996, it's the lead ship of a class that was designed to protect Canadian coastal waters.  The ship has a length of about 55 meters (around 180 ft.), a beam width of 11 meters (37 ft.), and displaces about a thousand tons.  Armed with a single 40mm cannon and two M2 Browning machine guns, the ship has a cruising speed of about 15 knots.  It has a compliment of about three dozen.  

Top contributor and pilot PO3SMITH created this amazing drone video of one of the world's most important naval shipyards.  It's called the Bath Iron Works, and it's in the eponymously named town in Maine, in the USA's New England region.  Currently owned by defense giant Northrup Grumman, the Bath Works has produced some of the most storied vessels in the US Navy.  For example, many of the Fletcher-class destroyers, which played a key role in the USA's victory in World War II, were built here.  

Operated as a training vessel by the navy of Argentina, the ARA Libertad (Q-2) is one of the world's largest and fastest tall ships.  Seen in this drone video by AirVuz contributor Santiago, the ship was commissioned in the early 1960's.  With a total length of about 340 ft. (around 104 m) and displacement of nearly 4k tons, the ship has allowed the Argentine Navy to maintain a tradition of operating tall ships to train new naval officers which goes back to 1873.  It has numerous records and honors to its name.    

Top AirVuz contributor and first person view (FPV) drone pilot Sylvain Lopez Visuals brings us this excellent FPV video of a replica of the first ship of the Baltic Fleet of the Russian Navy.  The ship is the three-mast frigate Shtandart, the original of which was launched in 1703 after bring commissioned by Tsar Peter the Great.  The replica was launched in 1999.  Both the original (which was retired in 1727) and replica measure 82 ft. long at the centerline (about 25 m) and displace about 220 tons.  

Contributor Murat Turna was able to film three Turkish warships steaming through the Bosphorus Strait near Istanbul as part of a naval exercise.  The first two ships shown are Kılıç-class fast attack craft.  These ships are over 60 meters (a bit over 200 ft.) long and displace about 550 tons.  The third ship in the video is an Barak-class corvette.  These ships are a bit longer (around 80 meters or about 265 ft.), displace a bit over 1.3k gross tons, and are designed for submarine protection.  

While the Caspian Sea is an inland body of water, its area covers territory of five states: Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Turkey, all of which deploy Caspian naval forces.  The largest of these is the Russia's Caspian Flotilla, which dates to the time of Tsar Peter the Great.  The fleet consists of over three dozen ships, including frigates, corvettes, missile-equipped patrol boats, and minesweepers.  In this drone video by VadimUshKa, you'll see this fleet on display for Navy Day in the town of Kaspiysk, Dagestan.  

Check out this drone video of a Polish torpedo boat heading into the port of Kołobrzeg, compliments of AirVuz contributor and pilot DroneEyePerspective.  CZSZ-172 is actually a retired naval vessel that's been converted to a tour boat.  It is one of the few known surviving examples of the 980M torpedo boats used by the former Warsaw Pact countries during the Cold War.  Kolobzreg is one of the smaller ports on Poland's northern coast; much of its traffic is cruise ship and tourist excursion boats.

AirVuz contributor onewheeldrone brings us this excellent drone video of the USS Slater, a destroyer escort.  Launched in 1944, the Cannon-class ship was used to escort convoys across the Atlantic Ocean during World War II.  The 93 meter long ship (just over 300 ft.) displaces a little over 1.2k tons.  De-commissioned shortly after the war, the ship was transferred to the navy of Greece, where it served for nearly three decades before being retired for good in 1991.  It's now a museum ship docked on the Hudson River near Albany, New York.

The USS Nautilus is probably the world's most famous submarine.  Launched amidst great fanfare at the height of the Cold War in 1954, she was the first sub to use nuclear energy for propulsion.   Capable of staying submerged for weeks, the Nautilus was the first sub to reach the geographic North Pole by cruising under the giant Arctic ice sheet.  Decommissioned in 1980, the Nautilus is part of the Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, Connecticut.  You can see this National Landmark from above in this drone video by PO3SMITH.  

AirVuz contributor and drone pilot PO3SMITH managed to aerially film a flotilla of United States Navy training ships cruising through the Cape Cod Canal in Massachusetts.  These ships are called Yard patrol boats, and they carry a "YP" hull designation.  While they are also used for research, their main role is to provide training for junior naval officers.  Most of them are stationed at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland or the Officer Candidate School in Newport, Rhode Island.  

Check out this drone video of a famous US Navy battleship, compliments of AirVuz contributor and first person view (FPV) drone pilot LiftedMedia.  LiftedMedia pilot Martin Novak was hired to create an FPV video of the USS Texas, one of the USA's most storied warships.  The only surviving US Navy Dreadnought style ship, it was launched on the eve of World War I and saw extensive combat in both World Wars.  Since 1947, she's been a floating museum, docked in the Houston Ship Channel just below the San Jacinto Monument.  

Norfolk is a medium-sized seaport city in the southeastern corner of the mid-Atlantic state of Virginia, near the opening of Chesapeake Bay.  It is a quintessential Navy town, and is the headquarters of the US Atlantic Fleet, one of the world's most powerful naval groupings.  Top contributor and pilot iDroneU used a drone to film this port city.  In this video, you will get some incredible bird's eye views not only of the city's downtown but of several US Navy ships in their berths in the harbor.