US Ford-Class Aircraft Carriers: The USS Gerald R. Ford is the newest and biggest aircraft carrier in the US Navy. Its latest trip has gone on for a long time and it has had a rough time at sea. The ship has stayed away from home much longer than people expected. It has also had toilet problems, and a fire in the laundry room stopped sailors from washing their clothes for a while.
Reuters reported that the carrier anchored in Croatia for repairs after a non-combat fire in its laundry room hurt three sailors and caused smoke problems for about 200 sailors. The ship had also been having plumbing trouble, with nearly 650 toilets affected.
The Ford is the lead ship of the Ford class and the first new US carrier class in more than 40 years. The Navy says it is made to replace the older Nimitz class over time. It is also meant to be a very advanced warship with new flight deck systems and stronger power systems.
Why is the Navy Looking for Next Ships?
The Navy is now checking the Ford class again, especially the next two ships, CVN-82 and CVN-83. John Phelan said the service is studying the cost, design, and systems before moving ahead. He said, “We are looking at [CVN-]82 and [CVN-]83 to review the costs, the designs, the systems, to make sure that they make sense, and they have all the systems and requirements that we want going forward,” Phelan said. “It’s a prudent and practical thing for us to do, given the costs of them as a percentage of the budget and how we are thinking about the force design and our needs going forward.”
The Navy says this review will also look at how much the ships cost to run over many years, not just how much they cost to build. Phelan also said, “It’s too early to say, but we will have carriers,” after being asked whether the review could change the ship line. The official Navy view still says the Ford class is a battle-proven design with stronger sortie rates, more combat power, and the ability to keep high-tempo operations going in three different theatres.
The New Launch System
One of the big new things on the Ford is EMALS, the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System. The Navy says EMALS is its newest carrier launch system and that it is built for USS Gerald R. Ford and later Ford-class ships. The Navy says it can help launch many kinds of aircraft, from lighter drones to heavy strike jets.
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That system has also become part of the argument over cost and usefulness. Phelan said, “We measure and monitor a lot of things in the Navy, including [the catapults], the airframes, and how that works,” Phelan told USNI News when asked how the Navy would assess whether the new Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) used to launch aircraft reduces the stress on the air frame, as service officials have maintained for years.
He added, “It’s a function of just understanding, for example, is the sortie rate generation that much greater,” he continued. “And then, what are the cost implications of this electric catapult? And did it really generate the savings? You know, the Navy would like to say, ‘we’ve saved $5 billion in terms of savings in number of men and maintenance.’ I just need to check that back up. And that’s what I mean by that.”
The Navy says initial data already suggests the flight deck and EMALS have improved sortie generation compared with the older Nimitz class, but the service is still studying the numbers.
