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The super ship fit for a superpower: America's $13bn aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford
The London Daily Mail ^ | September 30, 2013 | Staff

Posted on 09/30/2013 7:33:18 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

Rising from a dry dock, this is America's latest and possibly costliest piece of military machinery ever constructed.

The world's only superpower has released details of its new generation of aircraft carriers - the first of which costs a staggering $13billion - which it hopes will enable it to dominate any battlefield for decades to come.

But that sort of money buys an incredible amount of firepower, with the ship stuffed with cutting-edge and top secret technology.

When finished, the giant 1,106-foot USS Gerald R. Ford will be able to launch 220 airstrikes per day from its two runways, hold 4,000 sailors and marines, and be virtually invisible to enemy radar.

The Navy also plans to buy another three such carriers, at a cost of $43 billion, to complete its fleet.

But the project to build the most advanced aircraft carrier every made has come at a high price, with costs overrunning to the tune of nearly $3billion and major delays.

Beci Brenton, spokesman for Huntington Ingalls Industries, the maker of the ship, told FoxNews.com: 'The structure has been rearranged to accommodate new technology and meet all of the Navy’s operational requirements....

(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Foreign Affairs; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: airpower; aviation; military; navy
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1 posted on 09/30/2013 7:33:18 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Does it trip down airplane stairs?


2 posted on 09/30/2013 7:33:59 PM PDT by Rome2000 (THE WASHINGTONIANS AND UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE ARE THE ENEMY -ROTATE THE CAPITAL AMONGST THE STATES)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

$13 billion? What happened to the $4 billion we were paying?

We do not need $13B carriers. For one thing, ICBMs are getting popular and no carrier can defend against them. Secondly, we’re broke as a nation. We owe 7 times more than we take in.


3 posted on 09/30/2013 7:35:33 PM PDT by CodeToad (Liberals are bloodsucking ticks. We need to light the matchstick to burn them off. -786 +969)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Probably already outdated before it is launched.

Submarines render these very vulnerable.

And we can’t afford three of them at $40 billion apiece.

(Consider how many cruise missiles that would buy.)

I dread the day when some dingbat sinks one
with a Russian or Chinese missile — costing us 4000 guys
and billions in hardware.


4 posted on 09/30/2013 7:35:34 PM PDT by CondorFlight (I)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Does it hit people with golf balls?


5 posted on 09/30/2013 7:36:05 PM PDT by SeeSharp
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

A sitting duck.


6 posted on 09/30/2013 7:36:31 PM PDT by LowTaxesEqualsProsperity
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

>>>the giant 1,106-foot<<<

>>>invisible to enemy radar.<<<

LOL.


7 posted on 09/30/2013 7:36:50 PM PDT by cunning_fish
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’d like to see this thing take on Obamacare, the Department of Education, The Department of Energy...


8 posted on 09/30/2013 7:37:06 PM PDT by St_Thomas_Aquinas ( Isaiah 22:22, Matthew 16:19, Revelation 3:7)
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To: CondorFlight

Right now carriers are what a battleships were on the eve of WWII.
A cool looking targets for any near-peer adversary.


9 posted on 09/30/2013 7:39:30 PM PDT by cunning_fish
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To: Rome2000

Capt. Chevy Chase, commanding.


10 posted on 09/30/2013 7:39:41 PM PDT by clintonh8r (Don't twerk me, Bro!)
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To: CondorFlight

” Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System “

One atmospheric burst will render this unusable.


11 posted on 09/30/2013 7:40:29 PM PDT by philetus (Keep doing what you always do and you'll eventually get what you deserve)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Maybe they aren’t going to use it for the military per se, maybe it’s Washington, D.C. afloat.


12 posted on 09/30/2013 7:43:02 PM PDT by madison10
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To: LowTaxesEqualsProsperity

Target...

Run Silent, Run Deep...


13 posted on 09/30/2013 7:43:06 PM PDT by montomike (Politics should be about service and not a lucrative, money-making opportunity!)
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To: montomike
Run Silent, Run Deep...

Burt Lancaster, Clark Gable.

14 posted on 09/30/2013 7:48:32 PM PDT by Mark17 (Chicago Blackhawks: Stanley Cup champions 2010, 2013. Vietnam Veteran, 70-71)
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To: cunning_fish

Afraid you’re right.


15 posted on 09/30/2013 7:49:38 PM PDT by Eric in the Ozarks ("Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth.")
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

rust on hull already

rust never sleeps


16 posted on 09/30/2013 7:50:17 PM PDT by LeoWindhorse
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

My first vote ever as a teenie was for Ford, made sense being in Mchigan.

I lost to Carter, it has been GAME ON ever since.

President Ford and Vice President Ford, served both capacities somewhat admirably at the time of serious peril.

Ford was never elected to either office, and yet our country survived.

This gummint shutdown is meaningless.


17 posted on 09/30/2013 7:50:20 PM PDT by quantim (Victory is not relative, it is absolute.)
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To: philetus

“One atmospheric burst will render this unusable.”

If that happens, the carrier will not be needed anyway.


18 posted on 09/30/2013 7:50:30 PM PDT by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...

Thanks 2ndDivisionVet.
When finished, the giant 1,106-foot USS Gerald R. Ford will be able to launch 220 airstrikes per day from its two runways, hold 4,000 sailors and marines, and be virtually invisible to enemy radar. The Navy also plans to buy another three such carriers, at a cost of $43 billion, to complete its fleet... costs overrunning to the tune of nearly $3 billion and major delays.
Instead of representing overruns in billion$, they need to be measured in "Solyndras".


19 posted on 09/30/2013 7:52:38 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (It's no coincidence that some "conservatives" echo the hard left.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

But how many aspirin factories and baby-milk factories in Somalia can it bomb at the same time a la Clinton?


20 posted on 09/30/2013 7:55:00 PM PDT by LachlanMinnesota
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