to so it would fit into the Navy's largest dry docks. It was estimated that a carrier of this size would have a full load displacement of up to . Although the proposed 6A carrier was only longer than the Midways, its size and radical appearance led the media to refer to it as a "supercarrier". The plan was that the Navy's aircraft carriers would operate in four carrier strike groups, each with a 6A, a Midway-class and two Essex-class aircraft carriers (since there were only three Midways, one group would have a third Essex in lieu). Four 6A carriers were therefore slated to be built, with one laid down each year from 1949 to 1952, with all four operational by 1955. The ship's characteristics were approved by Nimitz as CNO on 2 September 1947, and by the acting Secretary of the Navy, W. John Kenney, the following day. The first 6A represented a $189 million line item (equivalent to $ in ) in a $14 billion defense budget (equivalent to $ in ), and that was inevitably going to attract the attention of the Bureau of the Budget. On 16 December 1947, its director, James E. Webb, stated that he was opposed to the 1949 shipbuilding program due to its cost. Sullivan offered to cancel the battleship and battlecruiser to assure funds for the 6A carrier, and Webb informed Sullivan that he and Truman had accepted the shipbuilding program on that basis on 19 December. The Joint Chiefs' approval was not sought in 1947, because the new unification law had not yet been enacted. In testimony before Congress in May 1948, Sullivan and Denfeld said that the 6A carrier had the approval of the Joint Chiefs, the Secretary of Defense and the President. General Carl Spaatz, the retired Chief of Staff of the Air Force, objected; the Joint Chiefs had never approved it. Forrestal then submitted it to the Joint Chiefs for their approval on 26 May 1948. Leahy, Denfeld and the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Omar N. Bradley, approved it; Vandenberg refused to do so. Congress funded the 6A carrier as part of the shipbuilding program on 24 June 1948, and Forrestal gave his approval on 22 July, giving the first 6A carrier the designation CVA-58, and Truman authorized the shipbuilding program the following day. The keel of the ship, which was named the ,