I hope America never has to fight a war.
Construction began on 11 August
2005, when
Northrop Grumman held a ceremonial steel cut for a 15-ton plate that forms part of a side shell unit of the carrier.
[14] The
keel of
Gerald R. Ford was
laid down on 13 November 2009.
[2] She was
christened on 9 November 2013.
[5] Gerald R. Ford entered
the fleet replacing the decommissioned
USS Enterprise (CVN-65), which ended her 51 years of active service in December 2012.
[15][16] Originally scheduled for delivery in 2015,
[17] Gerald R. Ford was delivered to the Navy on 31 May 2017
[6] and formally commissioned by President
Donald Trump on 22 July 2017.
[7][18][19] She is expected to leave on her first deployment around 2023 or
2024.
[20] As of 2017, she is the world's largest aircraft carrier, and the largest warship ever constructed in terms of displacement.
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2005 - 2024 ................ 19 years to get it into a deployment. Lots of good pensions made off of this one.