The largest aircraft carrier in the world has been sent out on its first deployment: The USS Gerald Ford left Norfolk, Virginia on Tuesday, heading out into the Atlantic.
The ship’s deployment comes after delays that have lasted years and cost billions of dollars – $13bn in all.
This specific aircraft carrier has a range of new technologies, such as “electromagnetic catapults that can launch planes and advanced weapons elevators that will move bombs and missiles up to the flight deck,” according to Insider.
Washington Post reporters Robert Costa and Bob Woodward wrote in their new book Peril that former President Donald Trump often ranted about this very ship, arguing that the cost was too high and that the flight command centre’s placement was wrong.
“It just doesn’t look right,” he said.
Democratic Virginia Representative Elaine Luria also slammed the carrier, calling it a “$13-billion nuclear-powered floating berthing barge”.
The ship will take part in military exercises which will include around 9,000 people from nine countries, 20 vessels, and 60 aircraft, the Navy said in a press release.
The Navy said the ship is the first new carrier designed in more than four decades. The building of the ship began in 2009 and it was commissioned by Mr Trump in 2017.
Construction has already started on the next two carriers in the Ford category – the USS Kennedy and the USS Enterprise.
The carrier has “nearly three times the amount of electrical power” of the previous Nimitz-class of carriers, the Navy said.
The electromagnetic launch system, EMALS, uses electric power to launch planes from the carrier. Previously, a steam catapult system was used. The new system means that less stress will be put on the carrier and the time between launches has been cut down.
According to CNN, an official said the USS Gerald Ford is the sole forward-class carrier that has dual-band radar.
The carrier will operate in the Atlantic Ocean and in the Mediterranean Sea on a deployment that will be shorter than the typical six-month timeframe.
The Commander of Carrier Strike Group 12, Rear Admiral Gregory Huffman, said in a statement that “this deployment is an opportunity to push the ball further down the field and demonstrate the advantage that Ford and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 8 bring to the future of naval aviation, to the region and to our allies and partners”.
The other countries taking part in the exercise include Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden.
