Brand-new Navy aircraft carrier and floating catastrophe USS Gerald R. Ford was forced to return to Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia after encountering issues with its propulsion train, Navy Times reports — the second critical failure in the propulsion system to roil the next-generation supercarrier, after a previously undisclosed failure was initially discovered months ago.
The Department of Defense’s fiscal year 2019 budget includes a hefty chunk of cash for a fourth Ford-class aircraft carrier, but the Navy may have to wait a little bit longer to see its dreams of an 11-carrier fleet truly realized.
During a Republican fundraiser dinner on Sept. 26, President Donald Trump railed against the new electromagnetic catapult technology on Navy aircraft carriers, The Washington Post reported on Sept. 28.
Huntington Ingalls Newport News shipbuilding has completed 50 percent of the structural work on the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), which is the second Ford-class aircraft carrier. If everything goes well, the massive 100,000-ton ship will be launched in 2020.
Six days after being commissioned, the USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy's newest and most sophisticated aircraft carrier, received and launched its first fixed-wing aircraft.
