Gerald R. Ford Class Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carrier | |||||
Awarded | Laid down | Christened | Commissioned | Decommissioned | Stricken |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
31 January 2019 | 5 April 2022 | 2028 | |||
Builder: Northrop Grumman Newport News, Newport News, VA |
Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced, 1 December 2012, CVN-80 would be named Enterprise to honor the previous eight American warships of that name.
According to a DoD press release issued on 23 May 2016, the Navy awarded Newport News Shipbuilding a $152-miliion contract to begin advance planning activities. On 31 January 2017, $25.5 million were added as a contract modification.
Enterprise was procured in FY2018. The Navy awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding a contract for two aircraft carriers, CVN-80 and CVN-81, the first of its kind since the 1980s. The company announced, 31 January 2019, that it received a contract modification valued at $15.2 billion for the detail design and construction of these two ships. (Read "Navy Awards Contract for Construction of Two Carriers", at the Navy website.)
HII-NNS laid the keel block of CVN-80 on 5 April 2022, when the ship was about 13% done.
Enterprise will replace USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) upon entering the fleet. As of December 2021, Enterprise was scheduled to be delivered to the Navy in March 2028.
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Size | Image Description | Contributed
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Namesake |
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117k | CVN-80 will be the ninth American warship to bear the name Enterprise. "Enterprise" means "readiness to engage in daring or difficult action."
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Naval History & Heritage Command | |
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96k | USN | ||
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-- | Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus pays tribute to the past and current crews of USS Enterprise (CVAN/CVN-65), and announces that CVN-80 will be named Enterprise, 1 December 2012. U.S. Navy video. |
USN | |
Construction, 2017– |
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181k | A graphic showing what the future USS Enterprise (CVN-80) is expected to look like when she joins the fleet after 2025. The aircraft are F-35C Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters, F/A-18 E and F Super Hornet strike fighters, E-2D Hawkeye electronic warfare planes, and an unmanned strike jet modeled on the X-47B sitting on the No. 4 catapult. U.S. Navy graphic. |
Ron Reeves | |
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129k | "The Aircraft Carrier Industrial Base Coalition has asked lawmakers for 'design for affordability' research and development dollars to reduce the cost of building carriers and for advance procurement funding for a block buy of CVN-80 and 81 materials." Read the full story here (18 March 2016). |
Tommy Trampp | |
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114k | The future USS Enterprise (CVN-80). Courtesy of Newport News Shipbuilding. |
Tommy Trampp | |
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261k | U.S. Olympic gold medalists Simone Biles, left, and Katie Ledecky, ship's sponsors of the future aircraft carrier USS Enterprise (CVN-80), and Jennifer Boykin, president of Newport News Shipbuilding, sign a 35-ton steel plate at Newport News Shipbuilding, 24 August 2017, to start advance construction of Enterprise, the ninth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name. Enterprise will be the third Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier. U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries by Matt Hildreth (# 170824-N-N0101-110). |
USN | |
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518k | Ship's Sponsors, Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky, give orders to, "Cut that Steel!" Courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News Shipbuilding. Photo by Ashley Major, Staff Photographer (# DCS17-546-288). |
Bob Haner, YN1, USN (Ret.) | |
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258k | A 35-ton steel plate is displayed at Newport News Shipbuilding division during a ceremony to start advance construction of the aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN-80), 24 August 2017. The steel plate will become part of the foundation of Enterprise, the ninth U.S. Navy ship to bear the name. U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries by Matt Hildreth (# 170824-N-N0101-111). |
David Wright | |
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115k | Image courtesy of Newport News Shipbuilding, a Division of Huntington Ingalls Industries. |
Ron Reeves | |
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336k | Enterprise (CVN-80) rendering. Image courtesy of Newport News Shipbuilding, a Division of Huntington Ingalls Industries. |
Ron Reeves | |
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389k | Enterprise (CVN-80) First Cut of Steel, 24 August 2017. Promotional items. Image courtesy of Newport News Shipbuilding, a Division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, by Ashley Major, Staff Photographer (# DCS17-546-64). |
Ron Reeves | |
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507k | A shipbuilder grinds on a unit of the future USS Enterprise (CVN-80) on Platen 21, 27 June 2019. Courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News Shipbuilding. Photo by Ashley Cowan (# DCS19-375-26). |
Bob Haner, YN1, USN (Ret.) | |
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314k | Shipyard worker measures and marks a steel plate that will become part of aircraft carrier Enterprise (CVN-80), 2 June 2020. Courtesy of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News Shipbuilding. Photo by Matt Hildreth. |
Bob Haner, YN1, USN (Ret.) | |
Memorabilia |
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91k | "The future in drawings..." |
©Jacques Marquet, via Tommy Trampp |
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101k | "USS Enterprise, The legend will live on..." |
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130k | "USS Enterprise, Protecting America in the 21st Century and Beyond" |
©Nikki
SpaceStuffPlus, via Tommy Trampp |
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This page was created and is maintained by Fabio Peña
Last update: 9 June 2022