Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier
USS
John F. Kennedy
(CVN-79)
is the second
Gerald R. Ford
-class
aircraft carrier
built for the
United States Navy
. She was launched on 29 October 2019, and christened on 7 December 2019.
Naming
[
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]
On 7 December 2007, the 66th anniversary of the
Attack on Pearl Harbor
, Arizona Congressman
Harry Mitchell
proposed naming this ship
Arizona
. In 2009, Arizona Congressman
John Shadegg
proposed naming either CVN-79 or the subsequent
CVN-80
as
Barry M. Goldwater
, after the
late U.S. Senator
, also from Arizona.
[7]
On 29 May 2011, the
Department of Defense
announced that the ship would be named for
John F. Kennedy
, the 35th
President of the United States
, who served in the navy during
World War II
.
[8]
She will be the third navy ship named after members of the
Kennedy family
, and the second aircraft carrier named
John F. Kennedy
, succeeding
USS
John F. Kennedy
(CV-67)
, which was active from 1968 to 2007.
Construction
[
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]
On 15 January 2009, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII)
Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding
was awarded a $374-million contract for design work and construction preparation for
John F. Kennedy
.
[9]
On 30 September 2010, Northrop Grumman announced that preparations were under way to begin construction.
[10]
On 25 February 2011, the Navy conducted the First Cut of Steel ceremony at Northrop Grumman in
Newport News
, signalling the formal start of construction for
John F. Kennedy
.
[11]
[12]
John F. Kennedy
was originally planned to be completed in 2018. This was extended to 2020 after Secretary of Defense
Robert Gates
announced in 2009 that the program would shift to a five-year building program so as to place it on a "more fiscally sustainable path". By late 2012, delays had occurred in construction, and the
Navy Department
was investigating extending the construction time of both
Enterprise
and
John F. Kennedy
by an additional two years which could delay the carrier's entry into service until 2022.
[4]
In September 2013, the
Government Accountability Office
recommended delaying the detail design and construction contract for
John F. Kennedy
until programmatic shortfalls are sorted out. The Navy and Defense Department have rejected the recommendation. The Navy faces technical, design, and construction challenges to completing
Gerald R. Ford
, including producing systems prior to demonstrating their maturity to meet required installation dates.
Gerald R. Ford
had costs increase by 22% to $12.8 billion, and additional increases could follow due to uncertainties facing critical technology systems and shipbuilder under performance. Risk is introduced in the Navy's plan to conduct integration testing of key systems at the same time as initial operational test and evaluation. One action the GAO says could be taken to ensure
Ford
-class carrier acquisitions are supported is conducting a cost-benefit analysis of required capabilities and associated costs.
[13]
The ship's keel was laid in Newport News, Virginia on 22 August 2015.
[14]
As part of the traditional
keel laying ceremony
, the initials of ship sponsor
Caroline Kennedy
, daughter of President Kennedy and the sponsor of the previous
John F. Kennedy
, were welded into the ship's hull.
[14]
As of late June 2017 the ship was 50% structurally complete.
[15]
On 28 February 2018, HII announced that its Newport News Shipbuilding division had built 70% of the structures necessary to complete
John F. Kennedy
.
[16]
On 30 April 2018, HII announced that she was "75 percent structurally erected and more than 40 percent complete." On 3 May 2018 HII President & CEO Mike Petters reported that
John F. Kennedy
was to be launched three months ahead of schedule on 29 October 2019.
[17]
On 30 May 2019 the 588-ton bridge and island was installed. Under the island Captain Todd Marzano placed his wings and the first
Kennedy half dollar
, which was donated by Caroline Kennedy, was put in place. Next to these Rear Admiral Brian Antonio (program executive officer, Aircraft Carriers, ret.),
[18]
Rear Admiral Roy Kelley (commander, Naval Air Force Atlantic),
[19]
and
Jennifer Boykin
(president, Newport News Shipbuilding)
[20]
placed coins each embossed with quotes from President Kennedy and parts of the ship's motto. Caroline could not be present, so the order was given via radio for the crane operator to lift the island and set it down on the deck over the ceremonial items and entombing them in the ship's superstructure.
[21]
The ship reached 100% complete on 11 July 2019 with the installation of the upper bow and launch deck consisting of the ship's two forward catapults.
[22]
On 1 October 2019, the ship's crew was activated for the first time as
Pre-Commissioning Unit
(PCU)
John F. Kennedy
at a ceremony aboard the vessel at
Newport News Shipbuilding
.
[23]
On 29 October 2019, Newport News Shipbuilding began flooding the dry dock where
John F. Kennedy
has been under construction. The process of filling the dry dock with more than 100,000,000 US gallons (380,000,000 L; 83,000,000 imp gal) of water took place over several days, and it marked the first time the ship has been in water. Once the ship was afloat, she was moved to west end of the dry dock.
[24]
The ship was christened on 7 December 2019 by Caroline Kennedy, who reenacted the bottle bash she did when the first
John F. Kennedy
(CV-67) was christened 52 years earlier.
[3]
In November 2020, HII received a nine-figure modification on an earlier contract to accomplish CVN 79 "single phase delivery and Joint Strike Fighter (
F-35C
) capabilities" in Newport News, Virginia.
[25]
According to the contract announcement, the "single-phase delivery approach" is adopted "to meet both Fleet requirements and a congressional mandate of ensuring that CVN 79 is capable of operating and deploying Joint Strike Fighter (F-35C) aircraft before completing the post-shakedown availability as codified in Section 124 of the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 116-92)."
[25]
The ship is projected to begin testing her
Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System
in 2022,
[26]
and her combat system in 2023.
[27]
In the same year, the U.S. Navy awarded a contract worth almost $400 million to HII for upgrades to the ship's flight deck, island, and weapon systems.
[28]
In February 2024 HII and the Navy began dead load testing and the first sleds were shot off the deck in late February until the end of April.
[29]
She is scheduled to be delivered in 2025.
[30]
See also
[
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]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Huntington Ingalls Industries Floods Dry Dock in Preparation for Christening Of Aircraft Carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79)"
(Press release). Huntington Ingalls Industries. 29 October 2019
. Retrieved
29 October
2019
.
- ^
a
b
"Naval Vessel Register"
.
- ^
a
b
"Aircraft Carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) Christened at Newport News Shipbuilding"
(Press release). Huntington Ingalls Industries. 7 December 2019
. Retrieved
7 December
2019
.
- ^
a
b
O'Rourke, Ronald (22 December 2017).
"Navy Ford (CVN-78) Class Aircraft Carrier Program: Background and Issues for Congress"
(PDF)
. Congressional Research Service
. Retrieved
16 January
2018
.
- ^
"Aircraft Carriers - CVN"
.
Fact File
.
United States Navy
. 17 September 2020
. Retrieved
18 November
2020
.
- ^
LaGrone, Sam (22 August 2016).
"Raytheon Awarded $92M Navy Contract for Future Carrier, Big Deck AESA Radars"
.
USNI News
. U.S. Naval Institute.
- ^
"H.CON.RES.83"
. thomas.gov. Archived from
the original
on 14 December 2012.
- ^
"Aircraft carrier to be named for JFK"
.
Politico
. 29 May 2011.
Archived
from the original on 20 September 2021.
- ^
"Fact Sheet"
(PDF)
. Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 5 July 2010
. Retrieved
26 May
2009
.
- ^
"Photo Release -- Northrop Grumman Announces Leadership Changes at Shipbuilding Sector in Newport News"
.
Northrop Grumman
. 30 September 2010.
Archived
from the original on 21 October 2020.
- ^
"Construction Begins on Navy's Newest Aircraft Carrier"
.
navy.mil
. 25 February 2011. Archived from
the original
on 1 March 2011.
- ^
Frost, Peter (26 February 2011).
"Shipyard Cuts First Steel For Next Carrier; Funding Remains In Flux"
.
Daily Press
. Newport News, Virginia. Archived from
the original
on 10 July 2022.
- ^
Fabey, Michael (5 September 2013).
"Delay Kennedy Carrier Contract, GAO Says | Defense content from"
. Aviation Week. Archived from
the original
on 4 October 2013
. Retrieved
17 September
2016
.
- ^
a
b
LaGrone, Sam (22 August 2015).
"Keel Laid for
John F. Kennedy
Carrier"
.
United States Naval Institute
.
Archived
from the original on 25 August 2015
. Retrieved
29 January
2016
.
- ^
"Aircraft carrier "
JFK
" (CVN-79) lower stern lift"
.
Huntington Ingalls Industries
. 22 June 2017.
Archived
from the original on 15 August 2022
. Retrieved
10 March
2018
.
- ^
"Aircraft carrier "
JFK
" structural milestone"
.
Huntington Ingalls Industries
. 22 February 2018.
Archived
from the original on 26 September 2022
. Retrieved
10 March
2018
.
- ^
Larter, David B. (3 May 2018).
"Here's the latest on America's next supercarriers"
.
Defense News
.
Archived
from the original on 4 November 2019.
- ^
"Rear Admiral Brian K. Antonio"
.
United States Navy
. 10 January 2017. Archived from
the original
(Biography)
on 22 June 2017.
- ^
"Rear Admiral Roy J. Kelley"
.
United States Navy
. 2 November 2017. Archived from
the original
(Biography)
on 20 July 2019.
- ^
"Jennifer Boykin"
.
Newport News Shipbuilding
. 2017. Archived from
the original
on 1 June 2017.
- ^
Faram, Mark D. (29 May 2019).
"How the USS John F. Kennedy got her island"
.
Navy Times
.
Archived
from the original on 6 January 2024
. Retrieved
30 May
2019
.
- ^
"Video Release--Huntington Ingalls Industries Completes Flight Deck on Aircraft Carrier John F. Kennedy"
.
Huntington Ingalls Industries
. 11 July 2019.
Archived
from the original on 2 October 2022
. Retrieved
16 June
2020
.
- ^
"Future Carrier John F. Kennedy Establishes Crew"
.
United States Navy
. 2 October 2019.
Archived
from the original on 6 January 2024.
- ^
"Video Release?Huntington Ingalls Industries Floods Dry Dock in Preparation for Christening Of Aircraft Carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79)"
.
Huntington Ingalls Industries
. 29 October 2019.
Archived
from the original on 7 October 2022
. Retrieved
16 June
2020
.
- ^
a
b
"Contracts for November 2, 2020"
.
U.S. Department of Defense
. 2 November 2020.
Archived
from the original on 17 August 2022
. Retrieved
25 January
2021
.
- ^
Fabey, Michael (11 February 2022).
"Carrier Kennedy to start EMALS testing later this year"
.
Janes
.
Archived
from the original on 12 February 2022
. Retrieved
19 June
2022
.
- ^
Fabey, Michael (15 February 2023).
"Carrier Kennedy set to enter combat system test programme this quarter"
.
Jane's
.
Archived
from the original on 27 February 2023
. Retrieved
26 May
2023
.
- ^
Manuel, Rojoef (27 June 2023).
"US Navy Updates Delivery Strategy for Future USS John F. Kennedy Aircraft Carrier"
.
The Defense Post
.
Archived
from the original on 27 June 2023
. Retrieved
1 July
2023
.
- ^
"HII Begins Topside EMALS Testing on John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) at Newport News Shipbuilding"
.
HII
. Retrieved
5 May
2024
.
- ^
Shelbourne, Mallory (23 March 2023).
"Ford Aircraft Carrier John F. Kennedy to Deliver a Year Later"
.
U.S. Naval Institute
.
Archived
from the original on 23 March 2023
. Retrieved
24 March
2023
.
External links
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