The United States is building its next generation of
aircraft carrier, the FORD-class carriers. The U.S. Navy gave us access to photograph construction of the
USS Gerald R. Ford at
Huntington Ingalls Shipyard, Newport News, Virgina.
The numbers behind the USS Gerald R. Ford are impressive; about $14 billion in total cost, 224 million pounds, about 25 stories high, four-and-a-half acres 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 Huntington Ingalls 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.
