Gerald R. Ford(CVN 78), the next-generation U.S. Navy aircraft carrier, prepares to begin its journey and the legendary USSEnterprise(CVN 65) prepares to finish.Enterpriseis undergoing its inactivation after 51 years of service. The two ships side by side represent two eras of innovation, both starting at Newport News Shipbuilding.
In 1933, Newport News Shipbuilding would forever mark its place in history by launchingRanger（CV 4），第一艘美国船设计和建造为龙骨的航空母舰。
At only 14,500 tons,Ranger重量远低于今天的90,000吨庞然大物，但它在其700英尺的飞行甲板上带有造船厂和海军的未来。
USSRangerCV 4 at pier with Newport News workers in 1933.
In fact, the three carriers launched just a couple of years afterRangerhelped turn the tide of World War II in the battles of Coral Sea and Midway. WhileYorktown（CV 5）和Hornet(CV 8) were lost during the war,Enterprise（CV 6）将成为海军历史上最战斗的船。
这Yorktown和Hornetnames would be reborn in the next aircraft carriers built at the yard, theEssex-class. The shipyard would deliver nine of the 24 carriers to the Navy. That meant that every three months or so, the shipyard was launching a 33,000-ton carrier.
造船厂将设计其第三类航空母舰 - 战斗机 - 并建造了两个。45,000吨的船只是当时世界上最大的航空公司。Midway(CV 41) andCoral Sea(CV 43) wouldn’t serve until the war was over, but marked the first of the post-war large carriers.
Enterprise1960年9月20日正在建设中。
这n came the age of the “Supercarrier.” The 1950’s and 1960’s brought contracts for theForrestal(CV 59),Ranger(CV 61),美国(CV 66) andJohn F. Kennedy(CV 67)– designed to launch jet aircraft.Forrestaltopped 1,000 feet in length and took on the familiar angled flight deck of today’s carriers. But the 1950’s also brought nuclear power to the carrier fleet with the construction ofEnterprise(CVN 65), launched in 1960. Named after CV 6, the second “Big E” would change the yard and the future of Navy aircraft carriers forever.
In 1972, NNS launched theNimitz(CVN 68), the first of the尼米兹 -class, ending the reign of boiler-powered ships and filling the shipyard’s dock for the next 30 years. All 10 ships in the class were designed, built and refueled in Newport News.
Today, the next era of aircraft carriers is being formed in our docks. The shipyard is building the follow-on class toNimitz, theGerald R. Ford-class.
Timeline
1920年代 - 1930年：Aircraft carrier concept provides a mobile base for land-based, tactical aircraft to strike from the sea. The first three U.S. aircraft carriers were experimental conversions of conventional ship types to test viability.
1934:NNS构建USSRanger(CV 4), the first American ship originally designed as an aircraft carrier.
1938 - 1941年：NNS构建Yorktown-班级载体；USSYorktown（CV 5），USSEnterprise(CV 6) and USSHornet(CV 8).
1942:All threeYorktown-班级航空公司于1942年6月赢得了中途战役，使美国海军在第二次世界大战中对日本人的进攻。USSEnterprise(CV 6) became the most decorated ship in U.S. Navy history, participating in all but two of the WW II carrier engagements.
1942 – 1946:NNS构建first seven ships of theEssex-班级舰队载体。24艘班级是美国最大的美国航空公司班级，成为了太平洋的第二次世界大战快速航空公司工作队。这Essex-class carriers, with modernization, serve through the early 1970’s and the Vietnam War.
1945 – 1947:NNS builds two of the threeMidway-class “battle” carriers; USSMidway（CVB 41）和USSCoral Sea（CVB 43）。这两艘船都到1990年代初。
1955:NNS构建first super carrier USSForrestal(CVA 59). The four-ship class, including the NNS-built USSRanger（CVA 61）是第一个在其飞行甲板上建造的，其飞行甲板上有倾斜的着陆区，设计用于操作喷气飞机。
1961:NNS构建first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier: USSEnterprise(CVN 65)
1964 – 1968:NNS builds aircraft carriers USS美国(CV 66) and USSJohn F. Kennedy(CV 67).
1972 - 2008：NNS建造全十个Nimitz-class carriers.
2008 – present:NNS is currently building theGerald R. Ford-class of aircraft carriers.
Gerald R. Ford(CVN 78) takes its first journey, leaving the dry dock at Newport News Shipbuilding where it was constructed and moving a mile downriver to complete final outfitting and testing.