The US Navy Is Rethinking the Design of Its Ford-Class Carriers

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Former Secretary of the Navy John Phelan indicated that changes could be made to the designs of USS William J. Clinton and USS George W. Bush.

The United States Navy’s newest and largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), is now on a record-breaking deployment that shows no signs of ending soon. It has been far from a pleasure cruise for the crew. Beyond spending vastly more time at sea than expected, the warship’s toilets have clogged, and a fire broke out in the laundry room, knocking out its sailors’ ability to clean their clothes. It is possible this problem was fixed during the Ford’s sojourn away from combat to Greece, Croatia, and Italy, but even if it was, the experience of spending several days in close quarters with several thousand other grimy sailors could not have been a pleasant one.

Still, the problems with CVN-78 began years ago. The warship was delivered years late and vastly over budget. Some of it was to be expected, as the lead vessel of a........

© The National Interest