Free Republic

For the past 1½ years, on 18 trips off the Virginia and North Carolina coasts, sailors and shipyard workers from Newport News have prepped the Navy’s newest carrier for deployment — 27% over its original budget and years behind schedule. The costliest single item on the Department of Defense’s shopping list, the USS Gerald R Ford has been on a fast track to launch a series of new technologies intended to boost the Navy’s striking power for at least the next 50 years. It is a fast track that started two decades ago. [snip] Over the past 18 months of...

The first in class of new carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, CVN-78, went to sea for its frst sea trilas. The US Navy made the following statement: "NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (April 08, 2017) - The future USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) is underway on its own power for the first time. The first-of-class ship -- the first new U.S. aircraft carrier design in 40 years -- will spend several days conducting builder's sea trials, a comprehensive test of many of the ship's key systems and technologies. GREAT Youtube Video, well worth watching This is historic day. This new class...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Wednesday blasted the Navy’s Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier program, saying its $4.7 billion cost overrun threatens to undermine the Navy’s aircraft carrier legacy. “We simply cannot afford to pay $12.9 billion for a single ship,” McCain wrote in an 18-page report. “The combined $4.7 billion in cost growth on these first two ships has already not only eroded the buying power for remaining ships in the Ford-class, as it leaves less available for well as other critical military capabilities.” The criticism comes in the form of McCain’s latest “America’s Most Wasted” report, a series...

Third (and final) Elevator Installed on USS Gerald R. Ford, CVN-79 3rd Elevator Installed on USS Gerald R. Ford World Maritime News Newport News, VirginiaHuntington Ingalls Industries: Huntington Ingalls announced yesterday that its Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) division installed the third and final aircraft elevator on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). The elevator, which is used to move aircraft from the hangar bay to the flight deck quickly and safely, is located on the starboard side of the ship. It measures 85 feet long and 52 feet wide and weighs 120 tons, akin to a steam...

The Navy made history Saturday when it launched the first aircraft from the Naval Air Systems Command, Lakehurst, N.J., test site using the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALS, technology. The Navy has been using steam for more than 50 years to launch aircraft from carriers. Saturday, the Aircraft Launch and Recovery Equipment (ALRE) program launched an F/A-18E Super Hornet using the EMALS technology that will replace steam catapults on future aircraft carriers. “This is a tremendous achievement not just for the ALRE team, but for the entire Navy,” said Capt. James Donnelly, ALRE program manager. “Saturday’s EMALS launch demonstrates...

Some nations have aircraft carriers. The USA has super-carriers. The French Charles De Gaulle Class nuclear carriers displace about 43,000t. India’s new Vikramaditya/ Admiral Gorshkov Class will have a similar displacement. The future British CVF Queen Elizabeth Class and related French PA2 Project are expected to displace about 65,000t (British) – 74,000t (French), while the British Invincible Class carriers that participated in the Falklands War weigh in at around 22,000t. Invincible actually compares well to Italy’s excellent new Cavour Class (27,000t), and Spain’s Principe de Asturias Class (17,000t). The USA’s Nimitz Class and CVN-21 Gerald R. Ford Class, in contrast,...

Navalizing the F-22 Raptor Restoring America's Maritime Air Dominance 07:36 GMT, February 23, 2009 May 7th, 1942, during the Battle of the Coral Sea, was the day when naval warfare changed forever. This was the first fleet action in which aircraft carriers engaged each other. It was also history’s first naval battle in which neither side's ships sighted or fired directly upon each other. Although technically a win for the Japanese Navy, its forces were sufficiently weakened that in the subsequent Battle of Midway, the United States Navy convincingly defeated the Imperial Japanese Navy. Since then, the USN has never...