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USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78)

The GERALD R. FORD is the first ship in an all new class of aircraft carriers and the first ship in the Navy named after 38th President of the United States. A focus in the construction of the new carriers was laid on reducing maintenance-intensive systems thus decreasing the number of personnel required to operate the ships. The FORD carriers will be the first aircraft carriers designed with all electric utilities, eliminating steam service lines from the ship. New technologies employed aboard include the new A1B reactors, the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), Advanced Arresting Gear and Dual Band Radar.

General Characteristics:Awarded: September 10, 2008
Keel laid: November 14, 2009
Launched: November 17, 2013
Commissioned: July 22, 2017
Builder: Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding Co., Newport News, Va.
Propulsion System: two A1B nuclear reactors
Propellers: four
Aircraft elevators: three
Catapults: four Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch Systems
Length, overall: 1,092 feet (332.85 meters)
Flight Deck Width: 256 feet (78 meters)
Beam: 134 feet (40.84 meters)
Displacement: approx. 100,000 tons full load
Speed: 30+ knots
Planes: approx. 75
Crew: approx. 4550 (ship and air wing)
Armament: one Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile System, two Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) Systems, two Phalanx CIWS and four Mk 38 Mod 2 25mm machine gun
Homeport: Norfolk, Va.


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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS GERALD R. FORD. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.


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USS GERALD R. FORD Cruise Books:


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The photos below were taken by me on May 6, 2012, and show the GERALD R. FORD under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding.



The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the GERALD R. FORD under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding. The photos were taken on October 28, 2013 - roughly 1 1/2 weeks before the christening of the ship.



The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the GERALD R. FORD under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding on April 13, 2016.



The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the GERALD R. FORD under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding on October 13, 2016.



The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the GERALD R. FORD undergoing a six-month Planned Incremental Availability (PIA) at Newport News Shipbuilding on December 26, 2021.



The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the GERALD R. FORD at Naval Base Norfolk, Va., on September 6, 2022.



The photos below were taken by me and show USS GERALD R. FORD anchored in the Solent off Portsmouth, UK, on November 16, 2022. The carrier left its homeport of Norfolk, Va., on October 4 for what the Navy calls a "service-retained" deployment meaning that the FORD will stay under the operational control of the US 2nd Fleet and will not be assigned to a regional commander. It's USS GERALD R. FORD's maiden cruise and Portsmouth is her first-ever overseas port of call. This deployment serves as a test of the carrier's advanced technologies prior to its first Global Force Management deployment in 2023.

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