I christened the United States ship
Gerald our Lord may God bless this ship
and all who sail her
[Applause]
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in 2009 the US Navy finally began
construction of the first new type of
aircraft carrier in nearly 35 years
named after former president and naval
aviator Gerald our Ford the USS Ford
fully takes the nuclear super carrier
into the 21st century
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the technological innovations built into
the new ship while causing the
inevitable delays involved in building a
first-class vessel will keep the Navy's
unique fleet of super flat tops the
largest and most advanced in the world
for the foreseeable future
USS ford follows of the steps of the
highly successful nimitz-class carriers
construction began in 2009 at Huntington
Ingalls industries in Newport News
Virginia the same location where the
Fords predecessors were built
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indeed the Ford class resembles the
Nimitz ships in many ways they measure
1100 six feet long versus the Nimitz
1092 feet both classes weighed the same
approximately 100,000 tons fully loaded
layout is similar to with an island on
the starboard side for catapults and an
angled flight back
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the ship is powered by two new design ad
one nuclear reactors the reactors are
manufactured by Bechtel which beat out
longtime naval reactor Giants General
Electric and Westinghouse for the
reactor contract together the two
reactors create six hundred minutes of
electricity triple the 200 megawatts of
the nimitz-class that's enough
electricity to power every home in
Hampton Virginia Pasadena California or
Syracuse New York Ford is going to need
that power not only to reach its
estimated top speed of 30-plus knots but
also the new electromagnetic aircraft
Launch System emails which uses electric
currents to generate strong magnetic
fields that can quickly accelerate an
aircraft to takeoff speeds the system is
touted as easier on aircraft extending
their service lives easier to maintain
in general and capable of generating up
to 25% more sorties than the older steam
kampl system
the new carrier will also use a new
system to land aircraft the new advanced
arresting gear uses a water turbine and
induction motors to help the momentum of
landing carrier aircraft like emails the
AAG is expected to be more reliable than
the existing aircraft arresting system
on Nimitz class ships and easier on
airframes Ford will also have the most
modern radar systems in the fleet the
Ford will have the dual band radar which
combines both the x-band and spy three
ages radar and the S band volume
surveillance radar DVR is capable of
search track and multiple missile
illumination detecting enemy aircraft
and missiles and then guiding evolve sea
Sparrow missiles ESS Em's to intercept
for self-defense ward will have to mark
29 missile launchers with a tssf speech
and two rolling airframe missile
launcher
it will also have for failing supposedly
foods for point defence against aircraft
missiles and small ships and for m2 50
caliber machine guns forged generous
electrical capacity means that the ship
could someday mount laser self defense
weapons powered by the ship's nuclear
reactors such a system would have a
virtually limitless ammunition supply
vastly increasing the ship's defensive
capability the carrier airwing will form
the carrier's primary means of deploying
both offensive and defensive firepower
the ford-class will embark two squadrons
of ten to twelve f-35c Joint Strike
Fighters Jew squadrons of ten to twelve
fa-18 P and F Super Hornets 5e8 18 G
growler electronic attack jets for each
UD Hawkeye airborne early warning and
control aircraft and two c2 Greyhound
carrier onboard delivery Zod
it will also carry eight mh-60s Seahawk
helicopters down the road it will embark
the MQ stingray refueling and
intelligence collection the eventual
planned six generation fighter to
replace the Super Hornet and if senator
john mckean has his way a new long-range
strike drone the v-22 Osprey tilt-rotor
is also set to replace the c2 Greyhound
in the co Devo
Forte's entry into active service will
once again raise the Navy's carrier
force to 11 ships the navy's carrier
fleet is unique in having a
congressionally mandated minimum force
level u.s. code fifty sixty two states
the naval combat force of the Navy shall
include not less than eleven operational
aircraft carriers for now the Navy's
operating with a waiver more ships will
follow USS John F Kennedy the second
aircraft carrier to bear the name of the
35th President of the United States is
under construction at Newport News and
expected to enter service in 2020
the third carrier Enterprise is expected
to begin construction next year and will
join the fleet in the early 2020s the
current push by President Donald Trump
and the Chief of Naval Operations to a
350 to 355 ship fleet will likely
include at least one additional
ford-class carrier in the near term
designed with the latest technology Ford
is not without problems both emails and
the advanced arresting gear system have
run into considerable problems and the
Navy briefly pondered finishing Kennedy
with a more traditional proven arresting
gear system despite developmental delays
it appears both new takeoff and landing
systems are nearly ready
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