100,000 pounds.
It helps stear, the size of the rudder depends on the size of the ship
On the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower there are two anchors. Each anchor weighs 60,000 pounds. Each link of anchor chain weighs 365 pounds. Each anchor and chain weighs a total of 735,000 pounds.
A Nimitz class CVN uses approximately the weight of a paper clip worth of U235 per day at an average underway power. I cannot disclose the weight of U235 upon initial fuel load due to it being classified, but It is not near as much as one would expect for the ship to run for 20-25 yrs.
The "weight" of a modern US Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is expressed as its "displacement". The latest class of carriers, the Nimitz class, has a displacement of more than 97,000 tons (long tons) or 98,000 tonnes.
There is no maximum theoretically. As long as the weight of the water being displaced is greater than the weight of the ship itself, it will float. That's why a 1 pound steel ball sinks, but a 90,000 ton aircraft carrier made out of the same material floats.
The largest supercarriers, the US Navy's Nimitz class, displace about 105,000 tons fully loaded.
1 cubic centimeter of neutron star stuff would weigh as much as 1000 aircraft carriers
There is much more to a carrier than what you see above the surface of the water. There is "ballast" which adds weight to the bottom of the ship. This is usually lead ingots that are stationary. Water can be pumped into and out of various tanks to add or subtract weight and keep the ship level, This is alco considered "ballast".
The weight of an aircraft counteracts the lift produced by an aircraft. The heavier an aircraft weighs the greater the lift needed to get off the ground.
The lift force is the force acting against the aircraft's weight. For straight and level flight, lift acts in the upward vertical direction and the weight of the aircraft acts in the downward vertical direction. For level flight, lift = weight.
Gross weight (Empty weight) of the F-14 is 43,735 lb.
It's not so much "needed" as it is a physical consequence. The empty weight is the weight of the aircraft itself - without fuel, crew, passengers, cargo or weapons.