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(CNN) - Don’t worry about that shaking in Florida. It’s just a massive military explosion. An “experimental explosion” triggered by the Navy about 100 miles off Florida’s Atlantic coast registered as a 3.9 magnitude earthquake Friday. The blast is known as a “shock trial,” an explosion meant to test a ship’s ability to withstand nearby detonations. The Navy was testing its new aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford.

The $12.9 billion USS Gerald R. Ford, which can carry about 5,000, is the first new US aircraft carrier designed in 40 years. Of course, a lot has changed in 40 years. For one thing, it’s not uncommon to find women serving aboard such carriers these days. Women account for nearly 20% of the sailors in the US Navy. So, the ship’s designers adapted to the new reality. According to the Navy Times, the Ford has no urinals—only seated toilets with stalls.

Amid all its upgrades and advances, the US Navy's newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, is lacking one feature: urinals. Every bathroom on the Ford is, for the first time, gender-neutral, equipped with flush toilets and stalls, according to Navy Times. Bathroom-design experts have said sit-down toilets are less sanitary and take up more space, and most of the Ford's crew members are men. (Women are only about 18% of the Navy.) But the Navy has said getting rid of urinals has advantages for current and future operations. Making every bathroom accessible to all of the ship's sailors...

<p>NORFOLK, Va. (AP) -- With praise and a blessing for the military, President Donald Trump helped hand over the USS Gerald R. Ford to the Navy on Saturday and said the state-of-the-art aircraft carrier will send a "100,000-ton message to the world" about America's military might when it is ultimately deployed.</p>

President Trump officially commissioned the U.S. Navy's newest and largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, in Norfolk, Virginia, on Saturday, applauding the military's strength. "When it comes to battle, we don't want a fair fight. We demand victory and we will have total victory, believe me," Mr. Trump said of the powerful aircraft carrier. "American steel and American hands have constructed a 100,000-ton message to the world," he added. "America's might is second to none."

Pres. Donald Trump used the Navy’s next-generation aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, as a backdrop to unveil his vision for the next defense budget in March 2017. The moment was meant to symbolize his commitment to rebuilding the military, but it also positioned the president in front of a monument to the Navy’s and defense industry’s ability to justify spending billions in taxypayer dollars on unproven technologies that often deliver worse performance at a higher cost. The Ford program also provides yet another example of the dangers of the Navy’s and industry’s end-running the rigorous combat testing that is...

The U.S. Navy has accepted delivery of its first next generation aircraft carrier, the future USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), from Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding. Delivery on Wednesday followed the ship’s successful completion of acceptance trials May 26. Ford is the lead ship of its class and the first new-design aircraft carrier delivered to the Navy since USS Nimitz (CVN 68) in 1975. It is also the first aircraft carrier to join the fleet since USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77) delivered in 2009. The Gerald R. Ford class, designed to replace Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, delivers...

The $13-billion USS Gerald R. Ford, continues to struggle launching and recovering aircraft, moving onboard munitions, conducting air traffic control and with ship self-defense. "Unless these issues are resolved ... they will significantly limit CVN-78's ability to conduct combat operations." Fixing these problems would likely require redesigning the carrier's aircraft launch and recovery systems

The most expensive warship ever built has been delayed from hitting the front line because it is reportedly not ready for battle. The $12.9 billion USS Gerald R. Ford Navy supercarrier - the first of three in its class with a total cost of $43 billion - could potentially struggle with planes landing and taking off, moving military weapons and being able to successfully defend itself, a memo obtained by Bloomberg News reads. The memo allegedly states 'poor or unknown reliability issues' were identified in a letter dated June 28. 'These four systems affect major areas of flight operations,' Defense...

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) on Wednesday blasted the Navy’s Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier program, saying its $4.7 billion cost overrun threatens to undermine the Navy’s aircraft carrier legacy. “We simply cannot afford to pay $12.9 billion for a single ship,” McCain wrote in an 18-page report. “The combined $4.7 billion in cost growth on these first two ships has already not only eroded the buying power for remaining ships in the Ford-class, as it leaves less available for well as other critical military capabilities.” The criticism comes in the form of McCain’s latest “America’s Most Wasted” report, a series...

Northrop Grumman has received a $189.2 million contract modification to continue design of a new aircraft carrier for the U.S. Navy. The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) is the first ship of the Gerald R. Ford class whose keel was laid Nov. 14, 2009. Enhancements incorporated into the design of the ship include flight deck changes, improved weapons handling systems and a redesigned island, all resulting in increased aircraft sortie rates.

Recent tests at NAS Lakehurst, N.J., should have builders of the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) sleeping more easily. The Navy’s risky bet in the design of the Ford—its reliance on an all-electric replacement for the steam catapult—appears to be paying off. Problems and delays with the electromagnetic aircraft launch system (Emals) last year were a threat to the carrier, because its design and construction reached a point where reverting to steam would have been difficult and expensive. With Emals in mind, the Ford-class features a much more powerful electrical generation and distribution system than the predecessor Nimitz-class ships, along...