Why the carrier Ford is delayed again
https://www.navytimes.com/news/your-navy/2019/03/26/why-the-carrier-ford-is-delayed-again/Why the carrier Ford is delayed again
By: Mark D. Faram ? 12 hours ago
NORFOLK After a string of successes in the yard, theres been setback with ongoing efforts to get the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford ready for sea, Navy leaders told lawmakers on Tuesday. The Pentagon has tacked on three months to the Fords post-shakedown availability at the Huntington Ingalls Newport News Shipbuilding complex here and wont rejoin the fleet until October, at the earliest.
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Geurts disclosed the latest delays during an exchange with Rep. Rob Wittman, a Virginia Republican who said hed heard concerns voiced by shipyard workers that they wouldnt have enough time to complete critical work on the warship.
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The Fords extended time in the yard marks another delay for the first-of-class carrier. Initially slated for delivery in 2015, it wasnt turned over to the Navy until mid-2017. The flattop was commissioned on July 22, 2017.
Setbacks with first-of-class warships arent unusual but the $13 billion Fords have been complicated by its revolutionary technology.
Most of the gremlins initially lodged in the carriers Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, or EMALs, and its companion Advanced Arresting Gear. But workers also faced problems with the ships 11 Advanced Weapons Elevators.
Those snafus appeared to dissipate when the crew took delivery of the Fords second elevator earlier this month, but nine more must be built and certified before the carrier can start using them.
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ROB-ROX
(767 posts)I was in the navy. I was aboard destroyers and carriers. All previous ships had been designed and built with no concerns which can be "adjusted" so the ship is acceptable. This ship is just like the "political." He was a screw ball and so is this "haunted" twisted Fix Or Repair Daily (FORD) republican named ship......SAD
JayhawkSD
(3,163 posts)The Navy has lovely terms in its own unique language and that term, as in, "the Fords post-shakedown availability at the Huntington Ingalls Newport News Shipbuilding complex" is one of my favorites. It means the opposite of what it says. It means a period of time during which the Navy will not be able to use the ship.
Now most people would regard that as a period of unavailability, but not the Navy. To them is is important to say that the ship is entering a period when it will be available to the shipyard, not to the Navy.