Ford-Class: The Biggest Aircraft Carriers Ever Built (With Problems)

The CVN-78 series aircraft carriers, better known as the Ford-class, represent the latest in a long line of American supercarriers. Technological marvels, the early ships have nonetheless experienced technical teething troubles and may have become vulnerable to the fiscal challenges that have begun to squeeze the U.S. Navy. They are the biggest aircraft carriers ever.

Long-term questions about the viability of naval aviation may eventually result in the curtailment of procurement. Still, we can nevertheless expect that the ships will represent American naval power for fifty years or more.

Ford-Class: What They Offer

CVN-78 and her sisters are the world’s largest aircraft carriers. At 1100’ long, the Fords displace about 100,000 tons, can carry some 90 aircraft, and can travel more than 30 knots. They are expected to become the centerpiece of American naval power, the latest ships to anchor the Carrier Battle Groups that have constituted the capital ship strength of the U.S. Navy since World War II.

The CVN-78 class carriers are the most recent evolution of a design that began with the Forrestal class aircraft carriers of the early 1950s. From the Forrestals to the Kitty Hawks to the Enterprise and finally to the Nimitz class, American supercarriers have grown steadily in size and sophistication.

Technological development has continued within particular ship classes, with the extremely successful Nimitz class effectively representing three distinct batches, including three, five, and two ships. The Fords represent an evolution of the Ronald Reagans, the final Nimitz subclass.

The Ford-Class is slightly larger, has a more powerful power plant, and enjoys increased automation (with consequently smaller crews), advanced sensors, and a modified island superstructure.

Overall, the design includes increased modularity and open architecture to take advantage of new technological developments over the ships’ projected fifty-year lifespan. Theoretically, the Fords can launch 25% more sorties per day than their older sisters, although, in practice, this number could be difficult to achieve.

The EMALS Problem

The most notable improvement separating the Fords from the Nimtz class is EMALS, an electromagnetic catapult system that replaces the steam catapults that have been in use since the 1950s.

EMALS also places less strain on the ship, requiring a much smaller mechanical footprint and using far less water. Perhaps most importantly, EMALS can modulate the energy with which an aircraft is flung into the sky, reducing stress on the airframe and enabling the launch of smaller aircraft, such as UAVs. Given serious questions about the future viability of manned aircraft in contested airspaces, the capacity to launch a wide variety of different vehicles is central to the usefulness of these ships.

However, teething problems with the system left the entire program in doubt. Reliability metrics have consistently missed targets, although they have substantially improved over time. President Donald Trump famously declared in 2017 that the EMALS should be replaced with steam catapults, a decision which would have forced the reconstruction of the existing ships, a major revamp to the design, and hugely expensive delays to the program.

Fortunately, steady improvement in the performance of EMALS on the Ford and the continued incorporation of the system on her sisters seems to have quieted criticism of the vessels.

The Next Aircraft Carriers

In addition to the Ford, the CVN-78 class has three ships under construction and a fourth on order. The John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) is fitting out and will likely enter service in 2025 or early 2026. The USS Enterprise (CVN-80) and USS Dorie Miller (CVN-81) are under construction and due for delivery in 2029 and 2032, respectively. Collectively, these three ships will replace the Flight I CVN-68 class ships (USS Nimitz, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, and USS Carl Vinson).

Ford-Class: Worth the Money?

The Ford-Class cannot escape questions about the long-term viability of aircraft carriers in the face of an array of threats, including drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles. However, big, flat-decked ships with enormous power plants and defensive solid and sensor systems will likely continue to be useful in the future.

Barring catastrophe, the Fords will likely form the core of the fighting power of the US Navy for the greater portion of the twenty-first century.

About the Author: Dr. Robert Farley

Dr. Robert Farley has taught security and diplomacy courses at the Patterson School since 2005. He received his BS from the University of Oregon in 1997, and his Ph. D. from the University of Washington in 2004. Dr. Farley is the author of Grounded: The Case for Abolishing the United States Air Force (University Press of Kentucky, 2014), the Battleship Book (Wildside, 2016), Patents for Power: Intellectual Property Law and the Diffusion of Military Technology (University of Chicago, 2020), and most recently Waging War with Gold: National Security and the Finance Domain Across the Ages (Lynne Rienner, 2023). He has contributed extensively to a number of journals and magazines, including the National Interest, the Diplomat: APAC, World Politics Review, and the American Prospect. Dr. Farley is also a founder and senior editor of Lawyers, Guns and Money.