Huntington Ingalls Industries’ [HII] Newport News Shipbuilding has completed building 70 percent of the future John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) aircraft carrier, the company said.
The company specified it has built this amount “of the structures necessary to complete” the second Gerald R. Ford-class carrier. It is set to be launched in 2020.
HII highlighted CVN-79 is being built with a modular construction technique in mind: small sections are welded together to construct larger sections called superlifts. The superlifts are then pre-outfitted and hoisted into the dry dock, where the ship is being built.
The company said builders have completed 317 lifts since the ship’s keel was laid in 2015. The ship is planned to include 447 lifts.
The 70 percent work was finished when HII completed an 806-metric ton superlift made of 17 units 171 feet long and 92 feet wide as part of the forward section of the ship. It took 18 months to complete and includes berthing areas, electrical equipment rooms, and workshops.
Program director of CVN-79 Mike Butler said this superlift is halfway between the bow and midship.
He noted it is part of a strategy change in the carrier’s construction, building larger and more complete superlifts before erecting them on to the ship.
“We are pleased with how construction on the Kennedy is progressing, and we look forward to additional milestones as we inch closer to christening of the ship,” he added.