Navy

Significant progress

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced today that it is making significant progress in the compartment and systems construction of the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79).

USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79)
Newport News Shipbuilding division is progressing through construction of the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) turning over more than 500 of the total 2,615 compartments, including the machine room which is one of the larger spaces. The completed spaces allow sailors to begin training on the ship while final outfitting and testing continues

Newport News Shipbuilding division recently eclipsed the 20% mark on compartment completion, turning over to the ship’s crew more than 500 of the total 2,615 spaces. It also has installed more than 8 million feet/2,438,400 m of cable – or more than 1,500 miles/2,414 km – of the approximately 10.5 million feet/3,200,400 m of cable on Kennedy.

The most recently completed spaces include berthing, machinery and electrical. This allows sailors assigned to the pre-commissioning unit to continue training on the ship while final outfitting and testing progresses.

«We are pleased with the progress being made on Kennedy», said Lucas Hicks, vice president of the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) and USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) aircraft carrier programs. «We are in the very early stages of systems testing, and look forward to successfully executing our work on equipment, systems and compartments that brings us closer to delivering the ship to the fleet».

Kennedy is more than 80% complete overall, and is scheduled to be delivered to the U.S. Navy in 2024.

 

General Characteristics

Builder Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding, Newport News, Virginia
Propulsion 2 A1B* nuclear reactors, 4 shafts
Length 1,092 feet/333 m
Beam 134 feet/41 m
Flight Deck Width 256 feet/78 m
Flight Deck Square 217,796 feet2/20,234 m2
Displacement approximately 100,000 long tons full load
Speed 30+ knots/34.5+ mph/55.5+ km/h
Crew 4,539 (ship, air wing and staff)
Armament ESSM (Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile), RAM (Rolling Airframe Missile), Mk-15 Phalanx CIWS (Close-In Weapon System)
Aircraft 75+

* – Bechtel Plant Machinery, Inc. serves the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program

 

Ships

Ship Laid down Launched Commissioned Homeport
USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) 11-13-2009 11-09-2013 07-22-2017 Norfolk, Virginia
USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) 08-22-2015 10-29-2019
USS Enterprise (CVN-80)
USS Doris Miller (CVN-81)
CVN-82