The Ship Model Forum

Supercarrier Ford Returns to Norfolk as Navy Leaders Spar with Shipbuilder, Congress on Setbacks
30 Oct 2019
Military.com | By Gina Harkins
The military's most expensive ship hit what Navy officials are calling a significant milestone Wednesday when it returned to its Virginia homeport.
The aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford is back in Naval Station Norfolk after several setbacks in getting new technology on the ship working, some of which remains ongoing.
Despite the setbacks -- including 15 months of maintenance at Newport News Shipbuilding where the ship was built -- the Navy say the first Ford-class carrier will be "the centerpiece of national defense in an increasingly complex security environment."
"USS Gerald R. Ford is the most technologically advanced, most lethal combat platform in the world," Rear Adm. James Downey, the program executive officer for Navy aircraft carriers, said in a statement. "Everyone, from the highest levels of government to the crew working the deck plates, is laser focused on this aircraft carrier being ready to enter fleet service."
The ship's hefty $13 billion price tag and many maintenance delays have certainly caught flak from leaders in Washington.
(...SNIPPED)

Future Navy Carrier JFK Treats First Patient at Medical
12 Nov 2019
Military.com | By Dorothy Mills-Gregg
The future aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy may be a way off from commissioning, but its medical facilities have already accepted and treated a first patient.
The United States’ second Ford-class aircraft carrier will be the “premier forward asset for crisis response and early decisive striking power in major combat operations,” the Navy said in a Friday release.
(...SNIPPED)

To Build its Newest Aircraft Carrier, Newport News Shipyard Used Lessons Learned from Ford
1 Dec 2019
Daily Press (Newport News, Va.) | By Hugh Lessig
A few years ago, Mike Butler was all ears when a rigger suggested a way to cut construction costs on the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy.
Instead of using cranes to assemble giant ship pieces in the yard at Newport News Shipbuilding, a forklift with an extendable boom could do some work faster and just as well, the rigger said.
(...SNIPPED)

Under Pressure, Navy's Top official Pledges to Solve New Carrier's Problems
6 Dec 2019
Military.com | By Matthew Cox
The new acting secretary of the Navy said Thursday that President Donald Trump's concerns over persistent problems with the first Ford-class aircraft carrier have prompted him to make fixing those problems one of his top priorities.
"I was on the [carrier Gerald R. Ford] last week; the Ford is something the president is very concerned about," Thomas B. Modly told an audience at the annual U.S. Naval Institute Defense Forum Washington. "He talks to us about it a lot, and I think his concerns are justified because the ship is very, very expensive and it needs to work."
(...SNIPPED)

Aircraft Carrier John F. Kennedy Christened at Newport News Shipbuilding
9 Dec 2019
Daily Press (Newport News, Va.) | By Hugh Lessig
With the crash of a bottle against its hull, the aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy was christened Saturday at Newport News Shipbuilding.
Caroline Kennedy, the late president's daughter, did the honors as ship's sponsor. It marked the second time she christened an aircraft carrier in her father's name. The first aircraft carrier named for JFK served through Vietnam and into the post-911 era. Caroline Kennedy, then a child, launched that ship in 1967.
(...SNIPPED)

The carrier Ford’s new arresting gear gets a stress test
By: David B. Larter   2 hours ago
WASHINGTON – The advanced arresting gear being installed on the Ford-class carrier simulated the high operations tempo expected during carrier operations this past October, contractor General Atomics announced Friday.
At the testing site in Lakehurst, New Jersey, General Atomics arrested five F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets over two days, landing a jet every minute.
“Over and over again, in rapid succession, Advanced Arresting Gear sustained an aircraft arrestment rate of nearly one per minute, successfully testing the system’s capability to handle the recovery sequence required for combat readiness,” Scott Forney, president of GA-Electromagnetic Systems, said in a release.
(...SNIPPED)

Navy Secretary Sets New Deadlines for Major Fixes to Supercarrier Ford
23 Dec 2019
Military.com | By Gina Harkins
By the end of 2021, the crew aboard the Navy's long-delayed and problem-prone next-generation aircraft carrier will be certified to deploy, according to an aggressive new timeline from the service's top civilian leader.

Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly, in a service-wide message issued Friday, said delivering the $13 billion aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford to the fleet as quickly as possible is one of his highest priorities.
(...SNIPPED)

Timeline set to get troubled flattop Ford to sea
Geoff Ziezulewicz and David Larter, Defense News
4 hours ago
The New Year is bringing a revamped effort by Big Navy to transform the delayed and over-budget aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford from albatross to operational.
In a Dec. 20 message to the fleet, Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly laid out a timeline to reach key goals, from flight deck certification to fixing faulty weapons elevators and commencing a full ship shock trial.
Modly also slated a “Make FORD Ready” summit for Thursday designed to bring private industry and military minds together to finally fix the flattop.
“With the successful completion of (the Ford’s) Post Shakedown Availability and subsequent Independent Steaming Events, finishing our work and delivering this capability to the fleet as quickly and effectively as possible is one of my highest priorities,” Modly wrote.
After Thursday’s summit concludes, Modly, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday and other Pentagon leaders will receive monthly status updates on the carrier’s progress, he wrote.
(...SNIPPED)

Just read that CVN 81 has finally been named. USS Doris Miller!

Now at Sea, USS Gerald R. Ford Enters a New Phase in its Path to Deployment

26 Jan 2020

Daily Press (Newport News, Va.) | By Hugh Lessig
Against a blistering 56 mph wind, an F/A-18F Super Hornet laden with fuel roared off the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford and into the brilliant January sky.
No glitches.

Chalk up another step forward for America’s newest and most expensive warship.
The Ford has been at sea since Jan. 16, accompanied by Navy test pilots flying a variety of aircraft. They’re taking off and landing on the ship’s 5 acre flight deck, taking notes and gathering data that will prove valuable for generations of pilots to come.
The Navy calls it aircraft compatibility testing, and the process marks an important new chapter for a first-in-class ship that has seen its share of challenges.
(...SNIPPED)

With laser weapons coming, the US Navy’s newest super carrier has space and power to spare
By: David B. Larter   8 hours ago
ABOARD THE USS GERALD R. FORD IN THE VIRGINIA CAPES – The is U.S. Navy desperately trying to get away from shooting down anti-ship missiles with other missiles, and the carrier Gerald R. Ford could prove useful in the pursuit of alternatives.
A major difference with Ford over its Nimitz-class predecessors is its twin A1B nuclear reactors that produce more than three times the electrical power of the reactors on Nimitz: More than 100 megawatts.
That means Ford, with survivability questions looming over aircraft carriers generally, can support large power-sucking equipment such as lasers, according to Capt. J.J. Cummings, the Ford’ commanding officer.
“When you talk about innovation in the Navy, this is where it lives,” Cummings said, referring to his ship. “We’re lighter – designed lighter –than Nimitz class.
(...SNIPPED)

The carrier Ford is trying to shake years of controversy and find its groove
By: David B. Larter
5:17 PM
(David B. Larter/Staff)
ABOARD THE CARRIER GERALD R. FORD IN THE VIRGINIA CAPES — Capt. J.J. Cummings is literally jumping up and down with excitement.
“Ahhhhhh I love that s---!” he shouts as the roar of an F/A-18 Super Hornet’s twin engines fades into the distance.
The fighter jet’s low flyby a few hundred yards off the port side of the U.S. Navy’s most expensive-ever warship is a loud reminder that the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford isn’t a construction project anymore.
For Cummings, the ship’s Massachusetts-born commanding officer, and for the ship’s crew, Ford is now a living, breathing warship with jets operating from its $13 billion flight deck. “I could watch flybys all day,” the career fighter pilot said Jan. 27 during a visit by Defense News aboard the vessel.
(...SNIPPED)

Toilets on the Navy's Newest Carriers Clog Frequently; Fixing Them Costs $400K A Flush
24 Mar 2020
Business Insider | By Ryan Pickrell
The toilets on the Navy's newest aircraft carriers clog frequently, and it costs $400,000 a flush to fix them, according to a new government watchdog report.
During a review of Navy shipbuilding programs by the Government Accountability Office, 150 systemic maintenance problems were identified.
"These problems resulted in more effort and cost for the fleet in sustainment than expected," the GAO said.
One problem mentioned in the report was clogged toilets.
The Navy installed new toilet and sewage systems — ones similar to those on a commercial aircraft but scaled up to support a large crew of more than 4,000 people — on the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) and the newer, first-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78).
(....SNIPPED)