Mike Butler News

The U.S. Navy’s newest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was launched Monday at Huntington Ingalls Industries' (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding yard in Virginia.Following the launch, the Ford Class aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), was guided with help from six tugboats down the James River about a mile from Newport News Shipbuilding’s Dry Dock 12, where it has been under construction, to the shipyard’s Pier 3. There, the ship will undergo additional outfitting and begin…

Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding division lifted the upper bow section onto one of the new aircraft carrier being built for the U.S. Navy, signalling the completion of the ship's flight deck.The addition of the upper bow section is one of the last steel structural units, known as a superlift, to be placed on the newbuiild, John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). Weighing 780 tons, the superlift took 18 months to build. It was constructed using digital technology, such as visual work instructions to install piping in the upper bow on the final assembly platen instead of on the ship.“We are very pleased with the progress being made on Kennedy as we inch closer to christening the ship later this year,” said Mike Butler, Newport News’ CVN 79 program director.

Construction of the U.S. Navy’s second Gerald Ford class aircraft carrier has reached its midway point following the installation of one of the ship’s largest units.Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding said it has installed one of the heaviest of the planned steel structures, known as superlifts, that will be joined together to make up nuclear-powered aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). The superlift of the aft section between the hangar bay and flight deck weighs approximately 905 metric tons…

Huntington Ingalls Industries announced that its Newport News Shipbuilding division has built 70 percent of the structures necessary to complete the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). Like its predecessor, the first-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), Kennedy is being built with a modular construction technique where smaller sections of the ship are welded together to form larger structures called superlifts. The superlifts are pre-outfitted and hoisted into Dry Dock 12—where the ship is being built—by the company’s 1,050-metric ton gantry crane. Shipbuilders have successfully erected 317 lifts since the ship’s keel was laid in August 2015. Kennedy is on track to be completed with 447 total lifts.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (NYSE:HII) announced today that its Newport News Shipbuilding division placed a 900-ton superlift into dry dock, continuing construction of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). As Kennedy begins to take shape in the dry dock, the ship’s cost and construction schedule continue on track with significant improvement over its predecessor, the first-of-class Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). “We continue to focus on reducing cost, and we are pleased with our progress,” said Mike Shawcross, Newport News’ vice president, CVN 79 carrier construction. Like Ford, Kennedy is being built using modular construction, a process where smaller sections of the ship are welded together to form larger structural units (called “superlifts”).