This is something you can't usually see: the bow of an American nuclear aircraft supercarrier, the new Gerald R. Ford—the lead ship of a new class that will start replacing the Nimitz-class in 2015.


It was just put in place at Huntington Ingalls's Newport News shipyard, at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, along the James River, Virginia.


American aircraft supercarriers are some of the biggest structures built by humankind. I remember the first time I saw one in person and it blew my mind.

The new supercarriers would be more efficient than the current Nimitz-class ships, with a new flight deck design that has a different layout and structure to handle airplanes more efficiently. The deck also includes Electromagnetic Aircraft Launching System catapults—four of them. The island—the control tower on the side—has been reduced in size and pushed towards the stern of the ship. [Huntington Ingalls]

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