Behind the Scenes: Building the Navy's Next-Gen Supercarrier

[Matt Molnar]

Popular Mechanics:

Supercarrier 2015: How to Build the World's Most Powerful Warship



To design the Navy's new Ford-class aircraft carrier, architects rely on virtual reality to shape 54,000 tons of steel into the world's most powerful warship. Here's how they do it. [Full Article]

[T-Bird76]

These carriers are very impresseive but to name the class after Ford???? The man was a tard.

[Matt Molnar]

These carriers are very impresseive but to name the class after Ford???? The man was a tard.

He's the only President to serve as a carrier pilot, and he was aboard the USS Monterey during some important WWII battles. I guess the Navy is proud of that, even if he became President by accident.

[flyboy 28]

These carriers are very impresseive but to name the class after Ford???? The man was a tard.

He's the only President to serve as a carrier pilot, and he was aboard the USS Monterey during some important WWII battles. I guess the Navy is proud of that, even if he became President by accident.

If I'm not mistaken, George H.W. Bush served as an Avenger pilot during WWII and was even shot down in combat.

[Matt Molnar]

If I'm not mistaken, George H.W. Bush served as an Avenger pilot during WWII and was even shot down in combat.

You're right, forgot about him. The final Nimitz-class carrier is named after him, which will be succeeded by the Ford-class.

[moose135]

He's the only President to serve as a carrier pilot, and he was aboard the USS Monterey during some important WWII battles. I guess the Navy is proud of that, even if he became President by accident.

Although he was a Naval officer and served on the Monterey during WW2, he was not a pilot. It wasn't the Navy that made the decision to name the carrier/class as Ford, it was a political decision. The USS America Carrier Veterans Association had been lobbying to have this new carrier named the USS America, but were unsuccessful.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser ... rald_.html

The USS Gerald R Ford -- A Big Surprise
January 03, 2007 5:28 PM

Donald Rumsfeld definitely jumped the gun this afternoon when he announced during his eulogy for Gerald Ford that the Navy would name a new aircraft carrier and the next generation of carriers after the former president. The announcement not only caught the family by surprise, but the Navy and Pentagon as well. Navy officials were scrambling this afternoon to react to a decision that hasn't been officially announced.

The last three USN carriers were named for Republican Presidents (Reagan, GHW Bush, Ford) all of whom were alive at the time. (In his remarks at Ford's eulogy, Rumfeld reported that he had met with Ford in the months prior to his death and told him that the ship would be named in his honor.)

[flyboy 28]

The USS America Carrier Veterans Association had been lobbying to have this new carrier named the USS America, but were unsuccessful.

Most likely because there's an amphib carrier class to be laid down with the America class name.