Aircraft Carriers III

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The Navy's newest aircraft carrier has completed another round of sea trials.

Local news media outlets report that the future USS Gerald R. Ford completed "acceptance trials" on Friday after three days at sea. The $12.9 billion carrier is expected to be commissioned this summer.

The ship completed tested various state-of-the-art systems during its first round of sea trials in April.

Construction on the Ford started in 2009. It was supposed to finish by September 2015, with costs at $10.5 billion. But there were issues with the carrier's advanced systems and technology, including aircraft landing equipment and power generation.

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U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68), together with destroyers USS Kidd (DDG 100) and USS Shoup (DDG 86), is ready to start its regularly scheduled deployment to Pacific Northwest.

On June 1, USS Nimitz is set to depart its Naval Station Kitsap-Bremerton homeport while USS Kid and USS Shoup will get underway from Naval Station Everett.

Nimitz, the flagship of the carrier strike group (CSG) 11, Kidd and Shoup will make a brief stop at Naval Air Station North Island to meet up with the other ships and units of CSG 11.

Strike group units have spent most of the past seven months underway preparing for deployment. Nimitz participated in a series of pre-deployment inspections and training evolutions, including Board of Inspection and Survey and a Composite Training Unit Exercise that certified them ready for deployment.

“I am so incredibly proud of the entire Nimitz team and the terrific coordination and support across the entire strike group, especially in such a condensed training cycle. The crew stepped up to the plate, and I’m confident we’re ready to meet whatever challenges lie ahead on our upcoming deployment,” said Capt. Kevin Lenox, Nimitz commanding officer.

Units embarked aboard Nimitz for deployment will be CSG 11 staff, Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 11, and Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 9.

The ships of DESRON 9 include the Everett-based guided-missile destroyers USS Shoup (DDG 86) and USS Kidd (DDG 100), the San Diego-based Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Howard (DDG 83) and USS Pinckney (DDG 91), and the San Diego-based Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59).

The Nimitz Strike Group last deployed in 2013. Since then, Nimitz hosted the first aircraft carrier landings of the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter aircraft in 2014 and completed a 20-month extended planned incremental availability at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, which completed in October 2016.

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U.S. to deploy 3rd carrier group to deter North Korea

The U.S. Navy has decided to deploy the USS Nimitz as a third carrier-led strike force to the western Pacific to increase pressure on North Korea to rein in its arms programs.

Nimitz, one of the world's largest warships, will join the USS Carl Vinson and USS Ronald Reagan there, sources close to the U.S. military said May 26.

It is rare for the U.S. Navy to deploy three aircraft carriers to the same region at the same time. This latest decision means that three of the U.S. Navy’s 11 aircraft carriers will be deployed in the western Pacific.

The Trump administration deployed the strike force to put pressure on Pyongyang to refrain from more nuclear and missile tests amid mounting concern that it will soon acquire the capability to launch intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

Vincent Stewart, director of the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency, has said that Pyongyang will ultimately succeed in acquiring the technology to equip its ICBMs with nuclear warheads and threaten the U.S. mainland.

According to the sources, the Nimitz strike group, which is part of the U.S. Third Fleet, was originally scheduled to be deployed to the Middle East region. It was initially to depart from its homeport, Naval Base Kitsap in Washington State, on June 1.

However, the U.S. Navy changed tactics and decided to deploy the nuclear-powered warship to the western Pacific for six months to deal with this latest crisis involving North Korea, the sources said.

The decision also sends a signal to China to continue cooperating with the United States on this issue. President Donald Trump has already said that the United States will independently take action against North Korea if China does not cooperate.

The Carl Vinson strike group, which is also part of the Third Fleet, has been deployed to the Sea of Japan since late April.

The Ronald Reagan strike group, which belongs to the Seventh Fleet that is based in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, and is in charge of the western Pacific, left its homeport on April 16. It is scheduled to carry out a joint drill with the Carl Vinson strike group.

Whether the Nimitz strike group joins the drill or not has yet to be revealed.

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• West from here (direction New York) to LA, I would've reached WEstern Pacific, and if
  
• East from here (direction Moscow) to Tokyo, I would've reached EAstern Pacifc

The U.S. Navy has begun dual-carrier operations with the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) and USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) in the Sea of Japan, a service official told USNI News on Wednesday.

It will be first time two U.S. carriers have operated in tandem off the Korean Peninsula since the 1990s and follows several recent North Korean missile tests.

“Operating two carrier strike groups in the Western Pacific provides unique training opportunities for our forces and provides combatant commanders with significant operational flexibility should these forces be called upon in response to regional situations,” Lt. Loren Terry told USNI News on Wednesday.
“The presence of two carriers is part of a regularly scheduled rotation of assets in the region and is not in response to any political or world events. This unique capability is one of many ways the U.S. Navy promotes security, stability and prosperity throughout the Indo-Asia-Pacific.”

The Vinson Carrier Strike Group has been operating for the last several weeks off of Korea, while USS Ronald Reagan – the Navy’s forward-deployed carrier based in Japan – recently completed its yearly maintenance availability in Japan and commenced its spring patrol earlier this month.

Vinson’s deployment was extended a month to conduct presence operations off North Korea.

“Our mission is to reassure allies and our partners of our steadfast commitment to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region,”

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.

“We will continue to be the centerpiece of visible maritime deterrence, providing our national command authority with flexible deterrent options, all domain access, and a visible forward presence,” Kilby added.

Chinese officials expressed concern over the operations during the Ministry of Foreign Affairs daily press conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

“We have all been following how the situation on the Korean Peninsula evolves over the recent period of time, and hoping that tensions can be lowered, and that the nuclear issue of the Korean Peninsula can be brought back to the track of dialogue and consultation as soon as possible,” spokeswoman Hua Chunying said.
“The situation on the Peninsula is highly complex and sensitive. There is a window of opportunity for us to bring the nuclear issue back to the right track of dialogue and consultation. In this connection, we hope that all relevant parties would exercise restraint and do more to ease the tension and build up mutual trust, rather than provoke each other and escalate the tension.”

While it’s the first time in decades two carriers operated in tandem off Korea, Reagan and USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) conducted dual-carrier operations

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.

Following the exercises, Vinson will return to San Diego to complete its deployment.

The Vinson Carrier Strike Group deployment is being overseen by U.S. Third Fleet based in San Diego, Calif., as a test of the Navy’s ability to command and control forces in the Western Pacific from the continental United States,

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. The strike group departed in early January.

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The Carl Vinson strike group, including the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2, guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain (CG 57) and guided-missile destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112), operates with the Ronald Reagan strike group including the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5, guided-missile cruiser USS Shiloh (CG 67), guided-missile destroyers USS Barry (DDG 52), USS McCampbell (DDG 85), USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62), and USS Mustin (DDG 89) and the Japanese Ships (JS) Hyuga (DDH 181) and JS Ashigara (DDG 178) in the Sea of Japan, June 1, 2017. Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) and U.S. Navy forces routinely train together to improve interoperability and readiness to provide stability and security for the Indo-Asia Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Z.A. Landers, Mass Communications Specialist 2nd Class Kenneth Abbate/Released)

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SEA OF JAPAN (June 01, 2017) Capt. Doug Verissimo, commanding officer of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), observes the Japanese Ship (JS) Hyuga (DDH 181), front, and the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) during a photo exercise. Japan Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) and U.S. Navy forces routinely train together to improve interoperability and readiness to provide stability and security for the Indo-Asia Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Matthew Granito/Released)

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The Navy accepted delivery of the first-in-class aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) on May 31, following the completion of acceptance trials on May 26, the Navy announced today.

The carrier had been scheduled for a March 2016 commissioning originally, but technological problems with the advanced arresting gear and other first-in-class issues slowed delivery by a year and a half.

“Congratulations to everyone who has helped bring CVN 78 to this historic milestone,” Rear Adm. Brian Antonio, program executive officer for aircraft carriers, said in a Navy news release.
“Over the last several years, thousands of people have had a hand in delivering Ford to the Navy — designing, building and testing the Navy’s newest, most capable, most advanced warship. Without a doubt, we would not be here without the hard work and dedication of those from the program office, our engineering teams and those who performed and oversaw construction of this incredible warship. It is because of them that Ford performed so well during acceptance trials, as noted by the Navy’s Board of Inspection and Survey.”

Ford is the first carrier to deliver since 2009 and the first new-design carrier since 1975.

The carrier includes five major technological upgrades compared to the Nimitz-class carriers, including the Advanced Arresting Gear and the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System. A larger flight deck allows more aircraft, more fuel storage and more weapons storage. And its new propulsion system generates three times the electricity as previous carriers, which will allow the ship to bring in new technologies as they are developed going forward.

“Ford will be commissioned into the fleet this summer, formally placing the ship into active service. Following this, there will be a ‘shakedown’ period where the ship will conduct several at-sea events to provide longer underway periods for the ship’s crew to operate and train on ship’s systems. In addition, planned deferred work will be performed, and any deficiencies identified during trials will be addressed during in-port periods,” according to the Navy news release.
“Ford is expected to be operational in 2020 following achievement of initial operational capability.”

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Almost eight years after construction began on a new class of aircraft carrier, the first of three has been delivered to the

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.

The service accepted the

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from builders Huntington Ingalls Industries Wednesday night, the Navy announced Thursday, bringing the ship a step closer to its commissioning later this summer.

“It was kind of a big night for us, from my perspective, having worked on Gerald Ford for most of the past 10 years,” Vice Adm. Tom Moore, commander of Naval Sea Systems Command, told an audience at the Center for Strategic and International Studies on Thursday morning.

“We just came back from a very successful acceptance trial,” he added, “and the Navy accepted delivery of the Ford last night.”

The Ford is the first new carrier for the service since the last of 10

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carriers, the George H. W. Bush, was commissioned in 2009. The Ford class is similar in size to the Nimitz class, but features a better-designed deck with a smaller island and fewer elevators, in order to accommodate more aircraft.

Several elements of brand-new technology, including the first-of-its-kind electromagnetic aircraft launch system, or EMALS, and advanced arresting gear, have contributed to now-infamous testing delays and budget overruns for the carrier.

The Ford was initially expected to be delivered in 2014, and more recently projected for delivery in early 2016. But that timeline slipped over the months with testing delays and concerns from the Pentagon’s weapons testing office that the new technology aboard the ship was not mature enough to fight with.

The carrier’s new technology, particularly its EMALS catapult system, entered the news again recently after President Donald Trump said in a Time magazine interview that he wanted to

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, saying the new technology is too expensive and doesn’t work well.

Service officials have said there are no plans to back down from electromagnetic technology for the next carrier, but outgoing Navy secretary Ray Mabus told reporters late last year he believed the new tech was pushed on the carrier too fast.

“New technology got pushed onto the [U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford] much faster than it should have been. That was a decision made by Defense Secretary [Donald] Rumsfeld in 2002. All this new technology was put on three different successive carriers, and it was all unproven,” Mabus said.

“It’s going to be ready for the Ford to go into the fleet and to

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, and it will be effective,” he said. “But it took a long time, because it was brand-new technology, and it shouldn’t have all been put on that first ship.”

The same issues also caused the carrier’s cost to balloon from $10.5 billion to nearly $13 billion over the course of development.

But the ship and the two carriers in the class that follow are expected to bring a range of new capabilities to the fleet.

According to Navy officials, the Ford will increase aircraft sortie rates by one-third and will generate three times the amount of electricity as previous classes.

Service officials considered pursuing a nuclear reactor system that would last for the 50-year life of the ship, Moore said Thursday, but ultimately decided that the cost of the technology was prohibitive. Regardless, he said, the Ford is expected to operate without refueling until 2040.

Ahead of its commissioning next month, the Ford will enter a “shakedown” period in which it will undergo a series of at-sea events, allowing the crew to train and familiarize itself with the ship’s systems.

The Navy plans to perform additional deferred work and identify remaining deficiencies during in-port periods. The Ford will becoming operational in 2020 after reaching initial operational capability, officials said.

The next carrier in the class, the John F. Kennedy, is in the late stages of construction and is expected to be commissioned by 2020.

“Congratulations to everyone who has helped bring CVN 78 to this historic milestone,” Rear Adm. Brian Antonio, program executive officer for aircraft carriers, said in a statement. “Over the last several years, thousands of people have had a hand in delivering Ford to the Navy — designing, building and testing the Navy’s newest, most capable, most advanced warship.”

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