Posted on 05/27/2012 9:06:09 PM PDT by moonshot925
The USS Gerald R. Ford, a huge new aircraft carrier, reached a milestone in its pricey and extensive construction Thursday when its final keel section was lowered into place at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia.
The 680-metric-ton lower bow unit is one of the largest of the 500 modules that will make up the completed ship and is over 60-feet-tall.
The bulbous bow seen in the picture shifts water flow around the hull, reducing drag and thus increasing speed, range, fuel efficiency, and stability. Carriers with bulbous bows have achieve about 12 to 15 percent increased fuel efficiency than vessels without them.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/the-uss-gerald-r-ford-reaches-a-construction-milestone-2012-5?op=1#ixzz1w8MTW7yd
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Yep. Quite a canoe.
Currently being assembled in Newport News, Virginia, the Ford-class will replace the Nimitz-class carriers and will include an array of new technology.
Advanced arresting gear used to grab planes as they land on the deck.
Automation, which reduces crew requirements by several hundred from the Nimitz class carrier.
The updated RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow missile system.
AN/SPY-3 dual-band radar (DBR), as developed for Zumwalt class destroyers.
An Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) in place of traditional steam catapults for launching aircraft.
A new nuclear reactor design (the A1B reactor) for greater power generation.
Stealthier features to help reduce radar profile.
The ability to launch the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, EA-18G Growler, and the F-35C Lightning II.
anybody home?
Pardon me?
World Wide Aircraft Carriers
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/carriers.htm
Aren’t we all looking forward to the USS Barraqa Hussein Obama?
I thought i’d be the Travon Martin.
“Arent we all looking forward to the USS Barraqa Hussein Obama?”
Yes, but it won’t be flying a US Flag.
Actually this was considered, but as a test the Navy put a rowboat of the same name into the Potomac in Washington DC and due to unknown forces it was impossible to change the direction of the rowboat from its vector of 56.622857 degrees. When the Navy changed the name of the rowboat to "George Washington crossing the Trenton," the said same vessel became a warrior to be feared by its enemies
I wish I was 35 years younger!
I’d be proud to serve this boat...
LOL It's a nuke. Why would it matter?
The 2 A1B nuclear reactors on the Gerald R. Ford class can produce 485 MW of power. The 2 A4W nuclear reactors on the Nimitz can produce 208 MW of power. So the Gerald R. Ford class can produce 135% more power than the Nimitz class.
Power:
Nimitz class = 208 MW
Ford class = 600 MW
The Ford class will produce 3 times the power.
Complement:
Nimitz class = 5,680
Ford class = 4,660
The Ford class will have a smaller crew thanks to automation.
Ford class armament:
- 2 x 16 RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow Launchers (32 missiles)
- 2 x 21 RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile Launchers(42 missiles)
- 2 x 20mm Phalynx CIWS
- 4 x .50 cal MG
I am sure it would sink to the bottom when they tried to float it out of the dock.
Clarification the Obama would sink when they tried to float it not the Ford.
Also the bulbous bow has been used before, it isn’t something new to carriers.
Fuel efficiency?The damned carrier is nuclear powered so why should fuel efficiency matter?
If anything is a benefit of a now of that design it should be an increase in forward speed.
I think your average nuclear carrier is refueled every 20 years or so.It maybe even longer between refuelings.
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