On November 26, 2022, the largest aircraft carrier ever built by the US Navy approached Naval Station Norfolk after a successful NATO exercise with Allied nations. During the tour, the Gerald R. Ford-class vessel proved her worth as the most sophisticated carrier in the world.
The ship conducted over 1,250 sorties and achieved an outstanding generation rate of over 160 aircraft. Impressively, this capability can be bolstered to over 270 aircraft if necessary thanks to her innovative launch systems such as the Advanced Arresting Gear and the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System, which put less strain on the airframe and allow the vessel to launch heavier fighter aircraft and lighter drones.
The Navy wants to replace the existing Nimitz-class carriers with the Gerald R. Ford class in the following decade and is thus packing the innovative and nuclear-powered carriers with the most formidable and state-of-the-art technology in the United States arsenal, expecting them to serve past 2100, more than 80 years from now…
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I just watched a 60-minute episode where they asked, "is the U.S. Navy ready for Chinese aggressions?"
Overall, interviewees were half and half about whether or not our Navy was. Some congress people say the Navy needs to build up to match the increasing naval numbers of China. However, the chief of naval operations says that the U.S. Navy is ready and able to do our duty and defend the safety and peace of the sea lanes in that region.
China has a Navy that is larger than the U.S., including 2 aircraft carriers… that are diesel powered.
I see this video on the new U.S. Ford class CVN, and I gotta say, I think we got China beat in that category. I'm concerned that China will have a Navy that rivals the U.S. but I think they won't quite have the quality that the U.S. has.
35 mph, I think it would be closer to 50 mph. It might be big, but it is fast. Awesome bit of kit, that's for sure.
Are you having that over to Isis as well? Cowards
Thanks USA. Your efforts keep not only the US safe but a lot of allied countries around the world including Australia.
Nicve to see some CVN-65 footage in here 😉
President Ford was not an honest politician. Ford helped cover up the JFK assassination by changing the autopsy drawings of where Kennedy was shot. When Ford was president, he was an embarrassment falling down all the time. It was hilarious watching SNL stars like Chevy Chase playing Ford falling down a lot. 😂 The flag should show Ford falling down. That would be more realistic. 😂
Bechtel of course!!!
4:56 neglected the fact that Ford had a long time between commission and first deployment because of issues with the emals software.
I too sometimes miss being at sea. Retired 20 years ago. My sea duty commands included USS Semmes DDG 18 1983-84, USS Cape Cod AD 43 1984-86, USS Kinkaid DD 965 1987-89, USS Whidbey Island LSD 41 1993-96 and USS Wasp LHD 1 2000-03.
The 2600 people are ships company. Add about another 2000 people when the air wing comes on board.
The CCP can't build anything that beautiful not to mention one that's fully functional…..
At 14yo I went on a "Tiger cruise" on the USS Nimitz. My step dad was in the navy. We flew out of SeaTac to pearl harbor and we spent 8 days on the Nimitz sailing back to Bremerton WA. So incredible.
It’s not a ship, it’s a island with a motor.
My son did 6 years in the Navy as a 'Nuke' Electricians Mate, was deployed on the George H.W. Bush CVN-77, some of his buddies got assigned to the Gerald Ford. We all got to spend a 'Family Day' on CVN-77 out of Norfolk VA. That was one of the best days of my life as a Proud Navy Dad, to spend the day on my son's ship with him. We went out to sea for a while, it was incredible, that behometh pushed to 34 knots, unbelievable! Plus an air show with various jets doing dummy bombing runs and just strafing around breaking the sound barrier every now and again. Just an incredible bucket list day! I highly recommend a carrier ride if you ever get the opportunity. Good times, good times.
For the algorithm 👊
With the overwhelming cost of a new fleet they should be named the "Biden class destroyers". Pretty accurate 😅
big aircraft carriers and one of them in black sea?
35 knots per hour no? 1:46 you said 35 mph, i guessing that's a mistake
I like how they incorporated pit stops inspired by NASCAR for rearming and refueling planes. This class is the most thought-out carrier in world history.
Salute Shipmates🇺🇲USS Belleau Wood LHA-3 93-95/ USS Carl Vinson CVN-70 95-97 ⚓
We can't come up with better names than Presidents?
Named after the only President of the United States of America who was never elected.
My nephew is assigned to the Ford. Proud.
I was on one of the escorting Destroyers for this 2 month deployment. It was awesome being part of something that will be here longer then I will.
I was commissioned as an Ensign in 1977, and later served aboard both the LPH-7 (USS Guadalcanal ) and the CV-62 (USS Independence). We flew A-4 and F-14's. All I have to say is WOW. How far we have come since my days at sea. Just WOW! I thought we were bad-ass back then, but what the USS Ford can do makes us look very, very old.
Man the rails!!
Michigan colors on the flag…. Lol
Waste of money, we should be making more subs. Against a peer or near peer power they would be sunk by missile salvos before they ever got close enough to launch any kind of strike.
Beards are allowed again? They were banned around 1984. Good! Sailors should be able to have beards. Even the women.
I thought the battle was the Ukranian flag, which pissed me off!
Should've used the actual colors of Michigan for that battle flag, as it kinda looks like an upside down Ukrainian flag in the video.
How beautiful she is and she rides through the water so effortlessly. Be safe!
I love how Ukraine has never helped American and has never contributed to NATO or our USA but our aircraft carrier mananaged to virtue signal with a huge flag for them.
We need to do a bit better than 10 years per carrier if we are going to stay ahead of china… and we need more repair facilities!
Did anyone else notice the big ol' flag elephant in the room?
Never thought I'd see an United States warship flying a Nazi flag…
Anyone else disturbed by the Ukraine flag flying from an American Warship?
I love how Nimitz class is consider antique by the US Navy yet it still superior then any new aircraft carrier build by other nation.
Thanks for an informative video.
I have a couple of questions:
Firstly, with the memory of the Falklands conflict and the punishment taken by the Royal Navy at the hands of relatively simple Exocet missiles and obsolete planes, it concerns me that the Ford carries (to my mind) very little by way of anti-aircraft defence. Is the US not making the same mistakes as the UK in underestimating the threat posed it from the air? Especially, if large numbers of threats are deployed simultaneously? For example, could the Ford defend itself successfully against large numbers of anti-ship missiles all arriving at the same time? A Task Group generally deploys a small handful of escort vessels, usually only one or two of which specialises in anti-air capability. Is this enough?
Secondly, I'm concerned that the current emerging threat from China and North Korea in the South China Sea, how wise would it be to scrap the Nimitz and her sisters, when they still have fuel for quite some time? Surely, the Nimitz and older carriers could be employed as strategic reserve "home bases" just outside the operational zone to bolster their front line force? Yes, it would be expensive, but it would add massive additional capability within a few hours, rather than the time it takes to deploy a carrier from the US. Cheap at the price I'd say. In addition, while there, the carrier could serve as a real time, on station training facility to supplement crew replacements etc. I don't believe it's prudent to dump such capability just because it is somewhat aged. [Ref the Buff example!]
I'm probably over-simplifying, but does the concept not have some merit?
I look forward to your perspective.
I thought the battle flag was for Ukrainians.
It's so ironic that there's one ship named for Ford and one for Kennedy. One assasinated president, and the person who helped cover up the assasination.
Why did nearly all the b-roll for the Nimitz class feature the USS Enterprise CVN-65? It was not a Nimitz class carrier but a derivative of the Kitty Hawk class?
This is just mind blowing.
USA you are the best when you decide to be.
the United States of Anarchy
Don't forget how a little Swedish non nuclear Submarines (virtually) Sank the USS Ronald Reagan in a 2005 joint NATO war games operation. Not sure how even we could defend against the New Hypersonic missile.
Better watch out for Swedish submarines this time while practicing…
CVN-79 will be great, but a whole lot of people are probably itching to have another Big E back in service.