Aircraft Carriers: USS Gerald Ford

[ivorthediver]

Denis ....why is nobody being held to account for this run away spending without limits or reasons !.... is it:-

Bad design shown as ....must have 's... in the cookie jar ?
Sound designs being demanded to do more than the constraints of the submitted design ?
Speculative expectations of untried designs sold as being "Certainties"
Senior policy makers with well greased palms
OR...... the "PR Syndicate" having an optimistic design orgasm based on Star Wars technology

What ever the embryo was based on surely it had to gain financial approval before blindly going ahead shielded from accountability

I accept that we are probably as bad but this is serious bucks were talking here MULTIPLIED BY THREE before its a proven system which smacks of either blind belief in their own ability.... OR... bottomless pockets .....in which case can we have some bucks or better still some Free F35b's for our QE Carriers please

[Pelican]

Watch the Navy Blast Its Carrier With a 40,000-Pound Explosive—and Cause an Earthquake

The U.S. Navy detonated a large underwater explosive charge near the new aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford.
The test, known as a full ship shock trial, is designed to test whether the ship can withstand a near-miss in combat.
The explosive charge was so powerful, seismographs on land recorded it as a 3.9 magnitude earthquake.

See:
https://www.popularmechanics.com/milita ... VmHDS0fOuM

[designeraccd]

Ivor, I cannot answer your question about accountability. That no longer seems to be a viable word in the U$N's lexicon, or the USA under kommrade xiden's regime.

There is this from the link I will attach:

"Behler’s assessment covered 3,975 launches and landing operations on the Ford during 11 at-sea, post-delivery trials from November 2019 through September 2020. The electromagnetic-powered catapult system is supposed to operate 4,166 “cycles,” or launches, between operational mission failures. Instead, it went 181 cycles between failures, or “well below the requirement,” Behler wrote. He didn’t detail the scope or severity of the problems.

…

The latest performance of the Ford’s new “Advanced Arresting Gear” to stop planes on landing, a system projected to cost almost $1 billion, also raised “reliability concerns,” Behler wrote. It’s supposed to operate landings, or recoveries, between operational mission failures. Instead, it averaged only 48 recoveries, also “well below the requirement,” Behler wrote."

Read more........https://taskandpurpose.com/military-tec ... -problems/

The article doesn't even mention the LACK of functioning weapon elevators, a perhaps SIGNIFICANT problem for what i$ supposed to be a WARship.

One other co$tly lil niggle: the FORD is NOT configured to operate the F-35, currently. Such brilliance is rather difficult for a lowly former Marine to comprehend..........Dennis

[ivorthediver]

Well Dennis like you we are all a tad confused about it and worried incase our MOD want to go that route as well .I totally understand your frustration and your government must be very embarrassed over the whole sloppy image they have projected to the world rather than the reputation they gained during and after the last war .

What with the Destroyer designed to fire munitions it can't afford to purchase just makes them the laughing stock of the military Sales package now , all of which makes us look even better at what we do compared to the USA .

I personally think we are all in for a wake up call when the eastern powers demonstrate what they are capable of when the invertible confrontation comes ............

[designeraccd]

"I personally think we are all in for a wake up call when the eastern powers demonstrate what they are capable of when the invertible confrontation comes ............"

Ivor I am afraid you are completely correct with what will happen.............. The PLAN now LARGEST Fleet in the world, and with no sign of the rapid building stopping, does not bode well for World Peace. Emperor Xi isn't $pending all that money building cruise liners now is he? Combine that with the now Resident in the White House, kummrade xiden, and the world is rapidly going down the road to 1914/1939 all over.....again. DFO

[ivorthediver]

Nothing would please me more than to be proven wrong Dennis , but it don't bode well at the moment IMO

[Pelican]

The Navy is Close to Deploying the Next Ford-class Aircraft Carrier

Kennedy is now approximately 76 percent complete.

Here's What You Need to Remember: The Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers are able to carry up to 90 aircraft, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, E-2D Advanced Hawkeye, EA-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft, MH-60R/S helicopters, as well as unmanned air and combat vehicles.

On Monday the United States Navy announced that it had modified its contracts with Newport News Shipbuilding, which will speed up delivery of the next Gerald R. Ford­-class aircraft carrier, USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79). The contract modification will move the carrier to a traditional single-phase delivery.

The carrier had been previously slated to go through a two-phase delivery process, which would have seen the ship mostly completed while the workforce at the shipbuilding facility would have paused, and then installed the electronics and made other modifications at a later date. That plan had been unveiled in the Fiscal Year 2016 (FY16) budget as a means to construct the warship on the most cost-effective schedule for the workforce at the construction yard.

It also would have avoided an overlap of CVN-79 with USS Nitmitz (CVN-68) in the fleet, which could put a further strain on Navy budgets but also on the personnel needed to operate both vessels. By inserting a "gap" in the construction, which would delay the final delivery, the ship would have also received the most up-to-date technology just ahead of its entry into the fleet, reported USNI News.

Continues at: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboo ... ier-175958

[Note above is dated 7th January 2021 - I don't know if later 'news' has superseded this info?]

[Pelican]

Carrier USS Gerald Ford Leaves Norfolk for Last Repairs Before Maiden Deployment


After three bulkhead-rattling explosions off the coast of Florida, carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) and its crew began the ship’s last repair period before a long-delayed deployment.

On Friday, the $13 billion carrier made the short trip across the James River to Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding for the six-month planned incremental availability following the explosive shock trials off the East Coast, the Navy announced on Saturday.

Ending in August, the carrier and crew endured three 40,000-pound blasts to test the Ford-class design as part of the full-ship shock trials.

Continues at - https://news.usni.org/2021/08/23/carrie ... oQ8TXuSvkU

[Brian James]

USS Gerald R Ford schematic.

[Pelican]

Ford aircraft carrier departs to Newport News for planned maintenance


The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford has departed from Norfolk Naval Station to Newport News Shipyard for planned maintenance.

The six-month maintenance period, called a Planned Incremental Availability, which includes modernization, maintenance and repairs, was slated to serve as the final maintenance phase prior to the warship's anticipated inaugural deployment next year, according to a U.S. Navy statement.

"Team Wolverine is ready for this brief but important maintenance period in Newport News, because we're pumped for what comes next," Ford's Commanding Officer Capt. Paul Lanzilotta said in the statement on the day of the departure Friday.

"This is a first-in class warship that will lead the future of carrier naval aviation for years to come, and this PIA is the last milestone for us to complete prior to our first work ups and deployment," Lanzilotta said.

Continues at - https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2021/0 ... SX2UFzMBTU