And the ship is not going with “goddamned steam,” much to US President Donald Trump’s chagrin.
Trump pleaded with the Navy to stick with steam-turbine aircraft catapults instead of a newer technology, the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System. "You know the catapult is quite important," Trump told Time. "It sounded bad to me. Digital… [so] I said no you’re not. You going to goddamned steam."
With the “Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and Advanced Arresting Gear, Ford will be able to increase sortie rates by one-third when compared to the Nimitz class,” the Navy public affairs team said.
“Over the last several years, thousands of people have had a hand in delivering Ford to the Navy — designing, building and testing the Navy's newest, most capable, most advanced warship,” said Rear Adm. Brian Antonio, the executive program officer for aircraft carriers.
The delivery comes 15 months behind schedule, the Hill reported. The Ford is the first of a new class of aircraft carriers dubbed the Ford-class. She is the first new carrier to hit the seas since the USS George H.W. Bush set sail in 2009.
While the Navy is celebrating the ship’s arrival and plans to officially commission it this summer, the Ford has three more years before officials expect her to be operational, the service said in a June 1 statement.
“I am not exaggerating when I say that half the systems on them don’t work,” defense analyst Roger Thompson told Radio Sputnik.
It’s the most expensive combat vessel, too, at a final price tag that came in a hair under $13 billion.
