Second Ford-class carrier hits milestone at Newport News Shipbuilding: 90% complete

The second Ford-class aircraft carrier hit a major milestone this week with shipbuilders completing over 79% of interior compartment spaces for the John F. Kennedy crew, officials said.

Crew gathered inside the ship’s steering gear power room for a photo to share Tuesday’s milestone to the John F. Kennedy’s social media accounts. The room, the post said, holds the primary steering equipment for the ship’s rudders.

Construction on the pre-commissioned ship began at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division in 2011. The shipyard expects to deliver it to the Navy in summer 2025.

When shipbuilders complete a compartment space, it is turned over to the ship’s crew, which HII spokesperson Todd Corillo said allows the crew to begin training while the vessel undergoes final outfitting and testing.

The shipyard team is focused on compartment completion and lighting off combat systems for integrated testing, Corillo said.

Additionally, he said construction and testing on the ship’s new electromagnetic advanced weapons elevators and electromagnetic aircraft launch systems, two of the much-touted technologies, continues to progress.

The electromagnetic aircraft launch system uses stored kinetic energy and solid-state electrical power conversion to propel an aircraft along a track and off the carrier, while the arresting gear is a turbo-electric system designed for more controlled deceleration of aircraft. The technology, the Navy has said, means the air-wing can get into the air — and return to the battle after rearming and refueling — faster than with the traditional steam-and-hydraulics systems that have been the mainstay for decades.

Newport News Shipbuilding and the Navy will put the Kennedy’s launch system to the test in early 2024, Corillo said. The launch system is tested with the “dead load program,” which involves a weighted sled being catapulted off the aircraft carrier into the James River.

“The balance of the ship’s systems continue to progress through completion, test and turnover,” Corillo said.

Overall, the Kennedy is 90% complete, according to the carrier’s social media. It requires additional outfitting, system installation and testing and activation of systems before its delivery.

The Kennedy will be the second Ford-class carrier. The first, the USS Gerald R. Ford, was delivered to the Navy in 2017 after years of costly delays associated with the never-before-seen technology. The delays pushed the Ford’s price tag up to $13 billion — $4 billion over budget.

“It is important to note that we continue to build upon the lessons learned from first-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), and continue to apply them to CVN 79 and future Ford-class aircraft carriers,” Corillo said.

The Ford returned Jan. 17 to Naval Station Norfolk from its maiden warfighting deployment. Capt. Rick Burgess, commanding officer of the carrier, said it and the new technologies performed “fabulously.”

“This ship is everything that the Navy and the American public wanted and more,” Burgess said. “I could not be more proud of our sailors who learned all these new systems and technologies and performed magnificently throughout the entire deployment.”

Aside from the Kennedy, two more Ford-class carriers are in the works. The third Ford-class carrier, the Enterprise, is 25% complete, according to a November HII earnings call.

The Enterprise is facing a one-year delay, HII CEO Chris Kastner said in the Nov. 2 earnings call with investors. He attributed the problems largely to the pandemic.

“Due to major component delays from the supply chain driven primarily from COVID, and the labor and supply chain effects subsequent to COVID, delivery of CVN-80 is forecasted to be approximately 12 months late,” he told investors.

The fourth Ford-class carrier, which will be the Doris Miller, is scheduled to begin construction in 2026.

Caitlyn Burchett, caitlyn.burchett@virginiamedia.com