Huntington Ingalls Industries has announced that its Newport News Shipbuilding division has built 70% of the structures necessary to complete the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN 79).
Like its predecessor, the 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 erected 317 lifts since the ship's keel was laid in August 2015. Kennedy is on track to be completed with 447 total lifts.
The recent 806-metric ton superlift consisted of 17 individual units and was about 171' long and about 92' wide. The structure comprises berthing areas, electrical equipment rooms and workshops and took 18 months to build.
"This superlift is in the forward path of the ship, about halfway between the bow and midship," said Mike Butler, Program Director of CVN 79. "It represents one of the key build strategy changes for Kennedy: building superlifts that are larger and more complete before they are erected on the ship. We are pleased with how construction on the Kennedy is progressing, and we look forward to additional milestones as we inch closer to christening of the ship."
A video and photos of the superlift are available at: newsroom.huntingtoningalls.com/releases/aircraft-carrier-jfk-structural-milestone
Kennedy is scheduled to launch in 2020.
For more information contact:
Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.
4101 Washington Avenue
Newport News, VA 23607-2734
757-380-2000
www.huntingtoningalls.com