The flush-deck United States was designed to launch and recover the 100,000-pound aircraft required to carry early-model nuclear weapons, which weighed as much as five tons. The ship would have no island and be equipped with four aircraft elevators and four catapults. The construction cost of the new ship alone was estimated at US$190 million. The additional thirty-nine ships required to complete the accompanying task force raised the total cost to US$1.265 billion.
United States was also designed to provide air support for amphibious forces and to conduct sea control operations, but her primary mission was long-range nuclear bombardment. That mission put her in harm's way long before construction began. The United States Air Force viewed United States as a challenge to their monopoly on strategic nuclear weapons delivery. Swayed by limited funds and bitter opposition from the United States Army and Air Force, Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson announced on 23 April 1949 -- five days after the ship's keel was laid down -- the cancellation of construction of United States. Secretary of the Navy John Sullivan immediately resigned, and the subsequent "Revolt of the Admirals" cost Admiral Louis Denfield his position as Chief of Naval Operations, but atomic bombs went to sea on the aircraft carrier USS Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1950.