Most Expensive Navy Carrier Ever Built Named After Gerald Ford

Ford served on the aircraft carrier the USS Monterey in WWII.

What an amazing ship.  I really liked the photo of the U.S.S. Ranger (CVN-61).  I spent a part of one summer in San Diego crawling and walking all over that ship on a repair project.  I gained a big appreciation for the engineering and technology behind these aircraft carriers.  

Funny story, sort of...maybe.

On vacay to Virginia Beach back in the mid-late 90's we drove up to Newport News and Norfolk and tooled around the areas...and at one point (in NN I assume) came to an area where we had a nice view of a newly-built/in-the-process of being built Carrier.  They were doing catapult testing and we could see things shooting off and flying into the water far below.  Pretty cool.  And then a tap on the window from somone saying to, in nicer words, "Put that videocamera down and get the fuck out of here this is "private property" and you're trespassing".

That carrier would become (well, was already) USS Harry S. Truman.

Go on a tour of a ship if you ever get the opportunity. In a couple weeks, I will be on my daughter's Destroyer for a day cruise out of Norfolk. Looking forward to seeing the 5 inch guns in action, and how fast the thing goes and takes turns.

You can go on museum ships as well. I greatly enjoyed spending a day going through retired Battleship Wisconsin, which is in Norfolk, and retired Carrier Lexington, in Corpus Christi. Both were active through the early 90's. And for perspective, tour the German U-505 at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, or the USS Cod Sub in Cleveland. There are plenty of other ships out there too . . . the oldest I've been on is USS Texas out of Houston. When you think about everything that goes into the design and construction of any ship, whether a carrier, destroyer, submarine, or a different kind of ship, it is mind boggling. The precision needed, the welding, the wiring, all of it, is incredible.

As mentioned above in the thread, there is a distinct purpose for each kind of ship. At the very least, you need carriers (as a floating airbase that can go anywhere), submarines (stealth), destroyers (ballistic missile platform, speed, and protection for the rest of the fleet), along with LSD's to carry troops.

I could go on a long time, which I won't but there are some very good reasons why ships cost as much as they do. (yes, there are bad reasons too, but the ability to design and build a warship is something very few countries can do well). Regardless of your personal politics, we can appreciate those who serve in the military (and yes, I'm biased, because of both my father and daughter serving in the Navy).

This picture is cool:

I've seen lots of pictures of aircraft carriers, but never one in drydock like that.

floating city.

bad ass!

I'm sure our carriers have good defense against subs. We usually have a whole fleet of destroyers etc to accompany them. Plus our subs are lurking below as well. We have planes that search for subs also. 

 I'm thinking they should paint a winged helmet on the new carrier by his name!