The USS Gerald R. Ford is the most expensive weapon ever created and will run about $11.5 billion, with three ships costing about $40.2 billion.

Even given these generous estimates, the Navy figures that the USS Gerald R. Ford could cost as much as $1.1 billion more than planned, making it far and away the service's most expensive warship.

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Tony Capaccio at Bloomberg reports the Ford's rising costs were first noticed in August when planners understood their worst-case assessment would put the carrier at about 21 percent over its target cost (via Hampton Roads).

Currently being assembled in Newport News, Virginia, the Ford-class will replace the Nimitz-class carriers and will include an array of new technology.

With fewer crew and the most modern equipment, the Navy hopes to reduce the cost of future carriers while an improved design of the ship's "island" will allow more sorties to be flown per day than before.

The Ford is expected to hit the water in 2015, with a 10 carrier fleet hoped for by 2040.