The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) is a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in service with the US Navy since 2017. She is the largest carrier ever built and it is the flagship of her class of four vessels. Her sister ships of her class are USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), Doris Miller (CVN-81), and Enterprise (CVN-80); all three have not been commissioned yet. She was named after Gerald R. Ford, the 38th President of the United States, who had served in the US Navy during World War II. She was designed and developed to replace the USS Enterprise (CVN-65), which had been in service for 54 years. She can carry up to 90 combat planes aboard, most of them being F-35C and F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter and attack aircraft. Despite its impressive size and the modern equipment she was fitted with, she faces the biggest threat a carrier has ever encountered; the Russian and Chinese hypersonic missiles.
Laid down on November 13, 2009, the USS Gerald R. Ford was built by Newport News Shipbuilding, in Virginia. She was launched on October 11, 2013 and she was finally commissioned on July 22, 2017, after four years of sea trials. She was assigned as a flagship to Carrier Strike Group 12, which usually operates in the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, and Indian Ocean, attached to the US Navy's Fifth Fleet. However, USS Gerald R Ford and her Carrier Strike Group can be deployed world-wide, wherever the United States' geopolitical and deterring needs force the US President to send her. Presently, as of November 2025, she is operating in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela.
Technical Description
The layout of the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) is similar to her predecessor's, the USS Enterprise, and the Nimitz class carriers, with an angled flight deck and the island set up on the starboard side of the stern portion of the ship. The difference is that the island is located further astern. It features an electromagnetic launching system, replacing the classic steam catapults, new and efficient arresting gear, and advanced radar systems, such as the AN/SPY-3 X-Band multifunction radar. The ship is propelled by four sets of geared steam turbines, with four shafts. Pressurized steam for the geared turbines and for the electrical power generation is produced by her two Bechtel A1B PW nuclear reactors.
Specifications
Type: aircraft carrier
Displacement: 100,000 tons (full load)
Length: 337 m (1,106 feet)
Beam: 41 m (134 feet)
Draft: 12 m (39 feet)
Propulsion: two pressurized water nuclear reactor; four sets of geared steam turbines, with four shafts.
Maximum Speed: 35 knots
Range: unlimited; she returns to port for supplies.
Compliment: 4,550 men
Aircraft: 90 (F-35C Lightning II, F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, E-2 Hawkeye)
USS Gerald R. Ford makes high speed turn maneuvers (video)
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| Above, USS Gerald R. Ford sailing in the Indian Ocean in 2023 |
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| The aircraft in the Red Sea. You can see a Grumman E-2 Hawkeye on the flight deck. |