The Ship Model Forum

The U.S. Navy shakes up the carrier Ford program after latest setback
By: David B. Larter   19 hours ago

A T-45 Goshawk, assigned to Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (VX) 23, lands aboard USS Gerald R. Ford's (CVN 78) flight deck. The Navy's Ford program manager was fired Wednesday. (U.S. Navy photo by MC2 Ruben Reed)
WASHINGTON –The officer overseeing the deployment of the carrier Gerald R. Ford was fired Wednesday, the latest jolt to the trouble program that has been operating under a microscope as technical problems with nearly two dozen new technologies bundled into the lead ship have piled up.
Capt. Ron Rutan was removed by Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition James Geurts last Wednesday in connection with his “performance over time” in the role as program manager for the ship.
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Navy Captain Who Oversaw Embattled Carrier Ford Program Reassigned
April 14, 2017: Crew members line the flight deck of aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford en route to the Norfolk, Va., naval station. Billed as a next-generation warship, the Ford continues to experience operational problems. (Bill Tiernan/The Virginian-Pilot via AP)
7 Jul 2020
Military.com | By Hope Hodge Seck
As the technology-overloaded supercarrier Gerald R. Ford continues its quest to get a full set of working weapons elevators, the Navy officer managing the program has been removed from his post and reassigned, according to officials with Naval Sea Systems Command.
Assistant Secretary of the Navy James "Hondo" Guerts pulled Capt. Ron Rutan from his role as Ford (CVN 78) program manager July 1 and reassigned him to the NAVSEA staff, Rory O'Connor, a NAVSEA spokesman, told Military.com in a statement.
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US Navy makes progress on aircraft carrier Ford’s bedeviled weapons elevators
By: David B. Larter   3 hours ago


The Navy is making headway in its fight to get the carrier Gerald R. Ford in working order. (Mark D. Faram/Staff)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy is over the halfway mark in certifying the new aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford’s 11 advanced weapons elevators, which have been at the center of an ongoing controversy over delays in getting the Navy’s most expensive-ever warship ready for its first deployment.
In a news release Thursday, the Navy announced it had certified Lower Stage Weapons Elevator 1, the sixth certified working elevator. LSWE 1 moves bombs from the forward magazine up to a staging area beneath the flight deck, where the weapons are armed and sent to the upper-stage weapons elevators that go to the flight deck. Crews had already certified the elevator that brings bombs from the aft magazine to the staging area.
The elevators are designed to reduce the time it takes to get bombs armed and to the flight deck to mount on aircraft.
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Shipyard suspends welding on future carrier John F. Kennedy after small fire
By: David B. Larter   4 hours ago
The future U.S. Navy aircraft carrier is shown in dry dock in Newport News, Va. (David B. Larter/Staff)
WASHINGTON — A small fire aboard the U.S. Navy’s next Ford-class carrier John F. Kennedy has prompted builder Newport News Shipbuilding to shut down all welding this week as the shipyard investigates, according to a statement from Huntington Ingalls Industries, its parent company.
The fire broke out around 10:15 a.m. on Monday and was quickly extinguished by emergency crews, the statement read, resulting in no injuries.
“Newport News Shipbuilding is investigating the cause of this incident,” the statement from HII spokesman Duane Bourne read. “There are no known cost or schedule impacts at this time.
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Navy Carrier Ford Now Has 6 Working Weapons Elevators
24 Jul 2020
Military.com | By Gina Harkins

More than three years after the newest -- and most expensive -- aircraft carrier was supposed to be delivered to the U.S. Navy with 11 working weapons elevators, it has crossed the halfway point in getting the new systems up and running.

The sixth advanced weapons elevator on the supercarrier Gerald R. Ford was certified on Wednesday. Officials say the remaining five elevators, which carry ordnance up to the flight deck where it's loaded onto aircraft, will be certified by next summer.

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Here’s when the US Navy thinks the carrier Ford will be ready to deploy
By: David B. Larter   2 hours ago
A C-2A Greyhound powers down its engines on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford in September 2020. Ford is on track to be ready to deploy in 2022. (MC3 Zack Guth/U.S. Navy)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy is working to improve the reliability of the new aircraft launch and recovery systems as the service pushes its newest and most expensive aircraft carrier toward its first deployment, the head of Naval Air Forces Atlantic said Sept. 12.
Rear Adm. John Meier told a virtual audience at the annual Tailhook symposium that while reliability concerns were at the top of the agenda, the carrier Ford is on track to be ready for tasking in 2022.
“The issue we are working closely on is building out of the gate reliability, making sure [the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System] and [Advanced Arresting Gear] has the right sparing, parts and equipment in the event that something breaks,” Meier said. "But its also making sure we have the right procedures and methodologies so those things don’t break.
“We’re still not where we want to be, but we’ve made great strides and we’re getting better every year.”
Last October, Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., who represents coastal area Hampton Roads, said at a Subcommittee on Readiness hearing that she’d been quoted an initial deployment date of 2024, six years after the carrier was originally scheduled to deploy. Navy officials have repeatedly pushed back on that estimate, saying they could beat it.(...SNIPPED)

EMALS technology on Ford carriers will help the US Navy accomplish its mission
By: Vice Adm. Lewis W. Crenshaw Jr. (ret.)   1 day ago
In order for the U.S. to meet whatever threats the future may hold, all branches of our military must commit themselves daily to improving war-fighting capabilities — in part by developing and leveraging the latest and greatest technology of our time. In the Navy, this sentiment is embodied in the next-generation Ford-class aircraft carriers, which will continue to project American strength around the globe for the next half century, just as our carriers have done for decades.
The U.S. Navy has always led the way in developing new and innovative technology. In 1794, when Congress commissioned the first six warships to make up the new nation’s fleet, Joshua Humphreys' radical design incorporated Southern live oak (so dense it does not float) in an unusual hull design with a narrow beam and a deep, elongated hull. Some had their doubts, but the results gave us “Old Ironsides.”
When Lt. Theodore Ellyson made the first successful shipboard catapult launch from a coal barge in 1912, it was the result of many developmental mishaps which almost cost him his life. When the submarine Nautilus was commissioned in 1952, it incorporated a beyond state-of-the-art submarine thermal reactor, the first of its kind requiring no air to operate. Innovation and leading-edge technology is in the U.S. Navy’s blood.
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Here’s the latest on the next US supercarrier
By: David B. Larter   1 day ago
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy’s next Ford-class supercarrier, the John F. Kennedy, will be delivered to the fleet with its full suite of advanced electronics and with the ability to support the carrier-launched F-35C aircraft, a change from a planned two-phase delivery devised in the original contract.
The two-phase approach was planned to accommodate the development timeline for the introduction of the enterprise air surveillance radar suite, which replaces the dual-band radar on the lead ship Ford, according to a Navy press release.
The ship is about 76 percent complete, according to Huntington Ingalls Newport News, and is slated for delivery in 2024. The F-35C upgrades were mandated in the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act.
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Here's Why Sailors on the Carrier Ford Will Eat Better Than Anyone Else in the Fleet
Military.com | By Hope Hodge Seck
OFF THE COAST OF NORFOLK, Virginia -- In October, an enlisted sailor aboard the carrier Nimitz published a Facebook post that quickly went viral showing an assortment of truly disgusting-looking meals from the mess deck, from raw and bloody roast beef to bread edged in blue mold and grey eggs with fossilized yolks.
While a Navy official came to the Nimitz's defense, pointing out it had been recognized for the best carrier food service in the fleet this year, an array of measures are being taken on the next class of carrier to ensure sailors' mess is better than it's ever been.

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USS Gerald R. Ford Making Steady Progress Ahead of Deployment
By: Mallory Shelbourne
November 24, 2020 6:40 PM

USS Gerald R. Ford’s (CVN-78) island on Oct. 22, 2020. US Navy Photo

ABOARD AIRCRAFT CARRIER USS GERALD R. FORD – USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) has been in and out of port for more than a year as the Navy continues to wring out the bugs from the new technologies on the next-generation carrier. While progress is steady, the program still has several milestones to achieve before it’s ready for its inaugural deployment.

Ford is slated to finish its post-delivery test and trials period and certify all of its weapons elevators, which have caused delays to the ship’s schedule, before starting full-ship shock trials in May.

During a USNI News trip last week aboard Ford, crew members were optimistic about the possibilities the first-in-class carrier holds for the Navy’s future and the progress the crew has made in recent at-sea periods. But with a few more months to go in the testing stage, the crew is still working to increase the reliability of multiple new technologies aboard the ship.

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The US Navy set off explosives next to its new aircraft carrier to see if the ship can handle the shock
Ryan Pickrell
Sat., June 19, 2021, 2:09 p.m.·4 min read


The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) completed the first scheduled explosive event of Full Ship Shock Trials while underway in the Atlantic Ocean on June 18, 2021. US Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Riley B. McDowell

USS Gerald R. Ford completed the first explosive event of full-ship shock trials Friday.
The Navy detonated explosives near the carrier to see how it holds up against shock and vibrations.
The testing is designed to simulate aspects of real combat and test the hardness of the ship.
See more stories on Insider's business page.

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Kennedy carrier cannibalized to ensure USS Gerald R. Ford is ready to go next year
By Geoff Ziezulewicz and Diana Stancy Correll
Friday, Nov 19

The Navy has been cannibalizing parts from a future aircraft carrier to ensure that the much-delayed and costly carrier Gerald R. Ford is ready to deploy next year, officials confirmed this week.

None of the parts transferred to Ford from the under-construction John F. Kennedy are expected to impact that future carrier’s construction schedule, according to Capt. Clay Doss, a Navy spokesman.

The Kennedy cannibalization includes “HMI screens for stores elevators as well as motor controllers, power supplies, small pumps, limit switches and valve actuators for various systems throughout the ship,” Doss said.

“This is not unusual early in a program and will occur less often as supply support matures,” he said.

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US Navy completes final weapons elevator on aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford
By Megan Eckstein
Dec 23, 09:55 AM


This story was updated on Dec. 23 at 2:25p.m. to include a statement from Sen. Jim Inhofe.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy tested and certified the last of 11 Advanced Weapons Elevators on aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, after that system threw a wrench into final construction, testing and training of the first-in-class ship.

The weapons elevators transport massive munitions from the depths of the ship up to the hangar bay and to the flight deck, where fighter jets can be armed before missions. AWE is one of 23 brand-new technologies developed for the Ford-class carriers, several of which lagged in development or saw delays during testing — ultimately pushing the ship’s planned maiden deployment from 2018 to the currently projected late 2022.

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Spare parts now flowing, as carrier Ford prepares for maiden deployment this year
By Megan Eckstein
Jan 25, 11:39 AM



An aerial photo of the Newport News Shipbuilding yard in Virginia in September 2021. Aircraft carriers Gerald. R. Ford and John F. Kennedy sit at the pier in the foreground. (Newport News Shipbuilding photo)
WASHINGTON — First-in-class aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford will be ready for a deployment this fall and Navy officials say it will have all the spare parts it needs, after the Navy had to cannibalize parts from sister ship John F. Kennedy as recently as last fall.
Ford began a maintenance period in August following full-ship shock trials, or a series of explosions in the water near the carrier. The maintenance period will repair the minor damage done to the ship during the shock trials, as well as allow for any remaining system installation or upgrades ahead of a planned deployment by this fall, Program Executive Officer for Aircraft Carriers Rear Adm. Jim Downey told reporters late last week.
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US Navy carrier Ford to go on unusual deployment this year
By Megan Eckstein
Feb 3, 10:09 AM
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy has promised a first deployment for its new aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford by this fall — but that deployment won’t be a typical one, the head of Naval Air Force Atlantic told Defense News.(......SNIPPED)