The Navy's Most Advanced Carrier Ever Launches This Weekend, And We Got Photos Of Its Construction

The construction of the Ford took place at Newport News Shipbuilding, Virgina.

Along with its groundbreaking architecture and network systems, the carrier is the first ever to use electromagnetic force - the same as in modern roller coasters - to launch jets into flight.

The numbers behind the USS Gerald R. Ford are impressive; about $14 billion in total cost, 224 million pounds, about 25 stories high, 1,106 feet long and 250 feet wide. But the sheer enormity of the ship and construction operation is hard to grasp until you're nearly face-to-metal with the massive military beast.

At Newport News Shipbuilding the power of new technology and 100 years of carrier design is built into every facet of the new ship. The Ford will handle up to 220 takeoffs and landings from its deck every day. Part of that quick turnaround is because when aircraft like the new F-35 return for maintenance, the plane's network will already have alerted ground crews to what's needed so they can get the aircraft on its way faster than ever before.