Gerald R. Ford Class CVN

SSgtC said:
So I missed this earlier, but did you really just say that Fleet Admiral Chester W Nimitz was not worthy of having an aircraft carrier named after him? The man who led the Pacific Fleet throughout WWII isn't a worthy name for a carrier?
Click to expand...
No. I said that there were lots of names that were not. Not that Nimitz was not.
 
Threads about USN next CVN, SSN, SSBN are being reduced to their naming.

I always praised USA naming street convention after using just plain numbers. Just a practical decision. Why not applying the same to the US Navy: CVN78 class. Ships in the class: CVN78, 79, 80, 81...Argumentation ends here.
 
Antonio said:
Threads about USN next CVN, SSN, SSBN are being reduced to their naming.

I always praised USA naming street convention after using just plain numbers. Just a practical decision. Why not applying the same to the US Navy: CVN78 class. Ships in the class: CVN78, 79, 80, 81...Argumentation ends here.
Click to expand...
Because a ship is more than just the hull number.

The only USN hulls that were only a number were expendables. PT boats, landing craft, etc.

I served on two different Ohio-class. Georgia BN (I transferred off just before her strat offload and start of conversion to GN) and Kentucky. They were two very different ships, not just because Georgia was C4 and Kentucky D5. Something as stupid as the firehoses had different numbering! Georgia's were numbered Compartment-Level-Number, Kentucky's were just Compartment-Number.
 
Are there going to be F-35's onboard this time or all F-18's?
 
Hydroman said:
Are there going to be F-35's onboard this time or all F-18's?
Click to expand...
No Lightenings deploying aboard her at this time. Per USNI news, she's deploying with CVW-8 embarked, and it's four VFA squadrons all fly Hornets

ETA: another oddity. Her escorts will not have a guided missile cruiser among them. Winston Churchill will be the command ship for her anti-air defenses
 
SSgtC said:
No Lightenings deploying aboard her at this time. Per USNI news, she's deploying with CVW-8 embarked, and it's four VFA squadrons all fly Hornets

ETA: another oddity. Her escorts will not have a guided missile cruiser among them. Winston Churchill will be the command ship for her anti-air defenses
Click to expand...

The Ticos are being drawn down, with I think all being retired by 2027.
 
Josh_TN said:
The Ticos are being drawn down, with I think all being retired by 2027.
Click to expand...

Given how rapidly the China is expanding the PLA:N's surface fleet and the USN's difficulty in getting new build warships at an adequate rate what are the odds the USN will have to delay these retirements?
 
NMaude said:
Given how rapidly the China is expanding the PLA:N's surface fleet and the USN's difficulty in getting new build warships at an adequate rate what are the odds the USN will have to delay these retirements?
Click to expand...

Zero; the USN has been trying to retire them for a decade. Congress often makes the mistake of assuming that having more platforms on paper is the same as combat capability and forces the services to maintain platforms that are effectively non capable. The Ticos are one of those. The B-1s are as well. Retiring half the B-1 fleet right now would probably give you more mission capable aircraft while saving money.
 
The Ticos are at the youngest, Port Royal, was commission into service 31 years ago in 1994.

They are at most built for 30 years of active service, with 5 years of leeway with mothballing and post mothball mobilization refits.

The entire class is FUCKED.

That before adding in issues with the hull from deferred maintance, running extra sorties, and general bad decisions from the navy. As well as design issue of using Aluminum superstructure and Steel hull which is a known issue causer from launch that result in the Burkes, Zumwalts and like ALL STEEL or all Aluminum build. Remember these hulls dont have the ROCH refits the Nuke boats get and are always doing work plus was design to be the LOW END DESTROYER to the CSGN High end cruiser. They were not design to last much longer then this.

Put simply, if you remember these ships launching, you likely need to schedule a doctors appointment for certain checks.
 
Not sure when Gerald R Ford will be refit to accommodate F-35Cs. They'll have to install new maintenance spaces, set up ODIN, buff up the jet blast deflectors, etc.
  • ❌Nimitz CVN-68: unlikely to receive F-35C modifications, retirement planned for 2026
  • ❌Dwight D. Eisenhower CVN-69: unlikely to receive F-35C modifications. Entered PIA January 14 2025, no mention of F-35 modifications. Retirement planned for 2027, but might be extended
  • ✅Carl Vinson CVN-70: modification for F-35s completed August 27 2020 during an 18-month docking planned incremental availability
  • ✅Theodore Roosevelt CVN-71: modification for F-35s completed March 17 2023 during a 6-month planned incremental availability
  • ✅Abraham Lincoln CVN-72: modification for F-35s completed April 7 2021 during a 6-month planned incremental availability
  • ✅George Washington CVN-73: modification for F-35s completed May 25 2023 during a 69-month refueling complex overhaul
  • ? John C Stennis CVN-74: According to the Navy, no mention of F-35s yet, scheduled to finish RCOH in 2026. According to Seapower Magazine quoting an anonymous Navy official, will receive F-35 mod during RCOH.
  • Harry S Truman CVN-75: not modified for F-35s yet, last 13-month PIA completed Jan 23 2024
  • Ronald Reagan CVN-76: not modified for F-35s, entered a planned 17-month DPIA in March 2025
  • George HW Bush CVN-77: not modified for F-35s, completed 10-month PIA in November 2024
  • ? Gerald R Ford CVN-78: not modified for F-35s yet. No word from the Navy on plans, but Seapower Magazine again reports that F-35 modifications will happen during a PIA in 2025
  • ✅John F Kennedy CVN-79: will be delivered to the fleet F-35 capable from the beginning
If anyone has any corrections, I'll modify this post.
 
Last edited:
NMaude said:
Given how rapidly the China is expanding the PLA:N's surface fleet and the USN's difficulty in getting new build warships at an adequate rate what are the odds the USN will have to delay these retirements?
Click to expand...
zero. Those ships are completely worn out and have zero margins left for upgrades.
 
joshjosh said:
Not sure when Gerald R Ford will be refit to accommodate F-35Cs. They'll have to install new maintenance spaces, set up ODIN, buff up the jet blast deflectors, etc.
Click to expand...
Why would they have to do all that? It's not like they didn't know the F-35C was coming while it was under construction.
 
Sferrin said:
Why would they have to do all that? It's not like they didn't know the F-35C was coming while it was under construction.
Click to expand...
Ford was so delayed and beset with early issues with her weapons elevators and EMALS, the Navy made the decision not to install the mods needed to operate the Lightning in order to get her into the Fleet faster.
 
Last edited:
Sferrin said:
Why would they have to do all that? It's not like they didn't know the F-35C was coming while it was under construction.
Click to expand...
The Ford's keel was laid in 2009. She was launched from drydock in 2013, delivered to the Navy in 2016, and conducted her first deployment in 2023. That's a long time.

Meanwhile, the first F-35C touched down on an aircraft carrier in 2014, and the first F-35C mods to accommodate deployment of a full F-35C squadron were completed in 2020.

When the Ford was under construction in drydock, they just didn't know what the F-35 mods would need to be.

But I suspect you knew all that are were just taking the piss out of the Navy, which... fair enough.
 
joshjosh said:
The Ford's keel was laid in 2009. She was launched from drydock in 2013, delivered to the Navy in 2016, and conducted her first deployment in 2023. That's a long time.

Meanwhile, the first F-35C touched down on an aircraft carrier in 2014, and the first F-35C mods to accommodate deployment of a full F-35C squadron were completed in 2020.

When the Ford was under construction in drydock, they just didn't know what the F-35 mods would need to be.

But I suspect you knew all that are were just taking the piss out of the Navy, which... fair enough.
Click to expand...
20% taking the piss, 80% thinking the mods aren't to the hull itself so why wouldn't you incorporate it in parallel. Of course it could be they'd bitten off enough, why complicate it further. Which sounds like the case. I'd expect JFK to be ready for the F-35C from Day 1 though.
 
Why Ford was not fitted to operate the F-35 was simply to save money as it was way overspent, original 2008 authorization $10.5 billion plus inflation then they had to go back to Congress in 2014 to increase the cost cap to $12.9 billion, Congress was not happy, yet costs still kept rising so Navy decided to save money by deleting capability to operate the F-35s in both Ford and Kennedy, when Congress found out it was too late for Ford but they mandated Navy include capability to fly F-35 be built in on Kennedy, remember one Admiral expressed his displeasure as it would delay delivery of Kennedy.

Final cost cap for Ford $13.3 billion plus inflation which CBO reckons in 2019 was $16.2 billion with inflation, another way Navy reduced headline costs was to split build into Phases 1 and 2, Phase 2 was funded from maintenance budget post commissioning, Congress has since stopped the Navy con trick of splitting build into different Phases to hide costs.

Ford build was completed when the final Advanced Weapon Elevator handed over in December '21 though Ford was commissioned four and half years earlier July '17 by Trump and why Rep. Elaine Lauria, a congresswomen from Virginia characterized the Ford as $13 billion nuclear-powered floating berthing barge in 2019.
 
And now she’s completed two deployments and being surged for a third. Ford’s biggest design error was not adding more design margin, Enterprise has already eaten all her’s up.
 
Sorry folks, replied vis a vis older posts, very past if today.
 
NMaude said:
Um, are you drunk;):D?
Click to expand...
No mate, not skunk as a drunk I am.

An immune system less use than a piece of two week old fish scraps and cannot handle hotter daze. You know, stuff.

Good job it really was a Tuesday.......

Reminded of a Margaret Hoolihan skit in MASH which was a good moment or ten though.
 
The direct quote, "I'm not as think as you drunk I am".

MASH, season 2 episode 14, 1973.Margaret Hoolihan whom we have lost.

Yoda would make far more sense than the news around about now.

Not getting to grips with emoti things yet.
 

Draft defense bill would authorize procurement of two carriers, as questions of future viability and delays surround program | InsideDefense.com

The House Armed Services Committee's draft fiscal year 2026 defense authorization bill would approve the procurement of two Ford-class aircraft carriers and allow for the use of incremental funding, while uncertainty surrounds the program’s future as the Navy seeks to remain competitive with China.
insidedefense.com insidedefense.com
(Subscription or registration may be required)
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom