The former USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63) gets underway from its homeport at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan in 2004. US Navy Photo
When James Melka first approached USS Kitty Hawk (CV-63), he had no idea the size of the aircraft carrier.
As the 17-year-old walked toward the pier in 1965, he could see the big gray ship, growing larger as he approached. It was “amazing” to walk onto the ship, then just four years into its service life, via its gangplank, Melka recalled. Read More
John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) leaves dry-dock in 2019. US Navy Photo
ARLINGTON, Va. – The Navy is mulling how it will accelerate adding the capability for the next Ford-class aircraft carrier to launch, recover and maintain F-35C Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters, officials said earlier this month. Read More
Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) reaches another milestone in its construction as their dry dock area is flooded three months ahead of its slated production schedule leading up to the christening of the second Ford-class aircraft carrier, scheduled for Dec. 7. Navy photo
THE PENTAGON – After years of delays, the Navy’s top weapons buyer is optimistic enough about the Ford-class aircraft carrier production that he’s now considering reworking when high-tech electronics systems are installed on the hulls. Read More
Newport News Shipbuilding floods Dry Dock 12 to float the first-in-class aircraft carrier, Pre-Commissioning Unit Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) on Oct. 11, 2013. Navy photo
Only one of the Navy’s 18 dry docks used for maintaining the nuclear-powered carrier fleet can support a Ford-class carrier, Navy officials told USNI News.
The final piece of the underwater hull of the future aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) is lowered into place at Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding in September. Photo courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries.
Huntington Ingalls Industries executives expect the future aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) to launch by the end of 2019, which is ahead of schedule and will occur roughly six years since the christening of first-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78).
USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) under construction in 2013. Newport News Shipbuilding photo.
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. – Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert said the Navy is making good progress learning lessons from first-in-class Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) aircraft carrier and lowering costs for the follow-on John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), but he said more innovative ideas might be needed to introduce competition and continue to cut out cost. Read More
Every president may be the commander-in-chief, but not all have military experience to inform that responsibility. Even fewer have served in the Navy – only six. (Two more, Theodore Roosevelt and Franklin D. Roosevelt, served as assistant secretary of the Navy.) Those six presidents – six out of seven presidents in a row, after a long history of White House executives with exclusively Army and militia backgrounds – spent time in the U.S. Navy Reserve performing a variety of missions. In honor of the U.S. Navy Reserve’s centennial celebration, here is a look at America’s seafaring presidents. Read More
