Supercarrier, Super Late: The U.S. Navy's Most Advanced Aircraft Carrier Ever Has Problems

he U.S. Navy has delayed by three months the delivery of the first Ford-class supercarrier. It's the latest setback for a high-tech new ship that's supposed to be the centerpiece of the Navy's future fleet, but which has proved to have serious design flaws. The delay also could weigh on the Navy's controversial proposal to decommission one older carrier decades earlier than the fleet previously had planned. Citing problems with the new supercarrier's nuclear propulsion system and weapons elevators plus minor tweaks testers identified during Ford's post-construction shakedown cruise, James Geurts, the Navy's top acquisitions official, on March 26, 2019 told the U.S. House Armed Services Committee's seapower and projection forces subcommittee that Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia would deliver Ford in October 2019 rather than in July.