【文/观察者网 山猫】
According to USNI News on December 11, the second ship of the "Ford" class aircraft carrier, the "Kennedy," is expected to begin sea trials at the beginning of next year.
On Tuesday local time (December 9), Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding held the keel laying ceremony for the fifth batch of "Virginia"-class attack submarines SSN-804 "Bab" at Newport News Shipyard. After the ceremony, the president of Newport News Shipyard, Cary Wilkinson, revealed that the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier CVN-79 "John F. Kennedy" is preparing to conduct sea trials in January next year. Wilkinson said that the crew aboard the "Kennedy" are undergoing various trainings to ensure they are ready to operate the carrier. It is expected that the carrier will start its first sea trial after the new year. Currently, the nearly completed "Kennedy" is moored at the outfitting pier of Newport News Shipyard, next to the retired CVN-65 "Enterprise" awaiting dismantling.
A photo taken at the outfitting pier of Newport News Shipyard shows the hull in the foreground and the island with the mast removed as the retired CVN-65 "Enterprise" waiting for dismantling, while the left island belongs to the CVN-79 "John F. Kennedy" whose hull is obscured by the "Enterprise".
As the second ship of the Gerald R. Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, the contract for the construction of the "Kennedy" was awarded to Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipbuilding (now the Newport News Shipbuilding division of Huntington Ingalls Industries) in January 2009. Initially, the ship was scheduled to be completed and delivered in 2018, but then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates included it in a new "Five-Year Shipbuilding Plan" in 2009 to meet "more sustainable fiscal policies", thus setting the completion date to 2020. On February 15, 2011, the "Kennedy" cut the first steel plate, and due to construction delays in late 2012, the U.S. Navy pushed back the expected time again by two years to 2022. On August 22, 2015, the "Kennedy" finally laid the first keel section at Newport News Shipbuilding and was launched three years later on October 29, 2019, three months ahead of schedule. On December 7, 2019, it underwent a naming and commissioning ceremony.
One month and one week after its launch, the "Kennedy" aircraft carrier held its naming and commissioning ceremony on December 7, 2019, at Newport News Shipbuilding.
However, delays continued. In November 2020, the U.S. Navy issued a contract modification announcing that the "two-phase" delivery model of the "Kennedy" would be "rolled back" to the traditional "single-phase" model, causing the estimated delivery date to be postponed again to June 2024. The so-called "two-phase" delivery model meant that when the first ship of the "Ford" class, CVN-78 "Gerald R. Ford," was commissioned in 2017, most of the hull, power, and combat equipment systems had been installed, giving it basic combat capability. This model allowed the "Ford" to fill the gap left by the retirement of the "Enterprise" and avoid potential legal risks (the U.S. law requires the U.S. Navy to have no fewer than 11 aircraft carriers). However, the cost was that some planned full combat capabilities needed subsequent testing, adjustment, and upgrade work to be completed, such as the use of F-35C carrier-based fighters and the full functionality of the EASR dual-band radar. Due to the poor actual effect of the "two-phase" delivery model, the "Kennedy" was again changed back to the "single-phase" model, which moved most of the work to be completed before delivery.
However, this deadline was also broken in 2023. The 2024 fiscal year budget document published in that year clearly admitted that the delivery would be further delayed from June 2024 to July 2025. In February 2024, the "Kennedy" began static carriage tests on the outfitting pier, becoming the third aircraft carrier in the world to activate its onboard electromagnetic catapult system, following the U.S. Navy's "Ford" (June 2015) and China's Fujian (end of 2023).
In February 2024, the "Kennedy" (left side of the image) began static catapult tests at the bow, note the "Enterprise" awaiting dismantling on the right side of the image.
However, by April of this year, due to long-standing "critical challenges" in the ammunition elevators, aircraft catapults, and arresting systems, the hope of delivering in 2025 also turned out to be a dream. The 2026 fiscal year budget document released this summer once again admitted that the delivery of the "Kennedy" was further postponed to March 2027 to ensure the completion of the certification of the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) and continue the installation and debugging of the Advanced Weapon Elevator.
According to Huntington Ingalls Industries' report, the "Kennedy" finally conducted its "first propulsion system test" on September 29 this year. The process involved using a tugboat to pull the carrier from the outfitting pier to a few hundred meters away on the James River, then turning 180 degrees and returning to the original berth. According to reports, this test was used to verify the key equipment for operating the ship, such as the propeller and rudder, and was considered a crucial step before the ship's self-propelled navigation at sea.
On September 29, the "Kennedy" was towed to the nearby James River for a 180-degree turn during the "propulsion system test."
Wilkinson stated that the "Kennedy" will complete preliminary acceptance by mid-2025 and is still waiting for final certification. In addition to the "Kennedy," the third and fourth ships of the "Ford" class, CVN-80 "Enterprise" and CVN-81 "Doris Miller," are also being built simultaneously in the Newport News Shipyard dock.
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Original: toutiao.com/article/7582896249071600138/
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