The first in class, USS Gerald Ford CVN-78 will soon enter fleet service according to Acting Navy Secretary Sean Stackley. In a speech at the annual U.S. Naval Institute meeting in Washington, D.C. last week, Stackley said CVN-78 will perform sea trials before Memorial Day and soon after enter the fleet.
“Delivery, pending the results of acceptance trials, we expect to turn delivery around quickly after that,” Stackley said.
“The crew is already onboard, operating and running the systems; she’s at the naval station; she’s loaded out; so the steps to go from acceptance trials to delivery, it’s going to be contingent on, what are the critical starred card type of deficiencies – if any – that are identified during acceptance trials,” he said, referring to the Navy test community’s way of denoting the most serious issues they find during sea trials.
“We came out of builders trials strong, we’re correcting those deficiencies” now before the ship heads back out to sea, Stackley continued. “I’m pretty confident right now in a good [acceptance trials] and a quick turn around to deliver the ship.” – USNI News
With world tensions seeming to be at a high level lately and considering the threats of ISIS, Syria, North Korea and Russia, the addition of the newest super carrier to the US fleet will be welcome news.
Feature image by US Navy
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