Best in Class

Forty years after the first Nimitz-class carrier, the first of a new class is being built in the docks of Newport News Shipbuilding: Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). The ship features new technology that will save the Navy money.

The new design brings many performance improvements, including:

  • 25 percent increase in sortie generation rate
  • 2.5 times electrical generation capacity over the Nimitz-class
  • Manpower reduction of 500 billets
  • The new carrier class was redesigned from the keel to the mast of the island house. 

Among the improvements:

  • New reactor and propulsion plants
  • Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), an improvement over steam catapult system
  • New island
  • All electric ship
  • Major space rearrangement
  • Flight deck extensions
  • Advanced arresting gear
May 07, 2012
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#aircraft carrier #Ford-Class #u.s. navy