The Navy’s beleaguered USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier may not have working weapons elevators, but it’s certainly got some moves.
The $13 billion supercarrier on Wednesday returned to Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia after several days of sea trials, a major step for a much-hyped carrier that just spent 15 months undergoing post-shakedown repairs to correct a slew of ongoing technical problems.
But just because only four of the Ford’s 11 critical weapons elevators doesn’t mean you can’t still have fun. According to a fresh batch of photos uploaded to the Defense Visual Imagery Distribution System on Tuesday, the Ford’s sea trials included a raucous round of high-speed turns.
In January, Secretary of the Navy Richard V. Spencer promised President Donald Trump that the Ford’s weapons elevators would be fully installed and operational by the time the carrier returned to the open ocean for fresh trials. No word yet on how that’s going.
