The costs and doubts keep growing for carrier Ford

[unhappycamper]

http://hamptonroads.com/2013/09/costs-and-doubts-keep-growing-carrier-ford

The costs and doubts keep growing for carrier Ford
By Robert McCabe
The Virginian-Pilot
© September 6, 2013

Though the projected costs of building the carrier Gerald R. Ford have ballooned by more than 22 percent over five years, it appears that the ship may not be fully functional when it's commissioned, according to Congress's watchdog agency.

"As it stands, the Navy will not be positioned to deliver a fully capable ship" at its commissioning, now scheduled for March 2016, according to a report on Ford-class carriers released Thursday by the Government Accountability Office.

The Ford, being built at Newport News Shipbuilding, was budgeted to cost $10.5 billion when construction was authorized five years ago. The Navy's current estimate is $12.8 billion. That would make it the most expensive warship ever built. But the GAO report casts doubt on that figure, too, citing other estimates ranging up to $14.2 billion.

It calls the $12.8 billion projection "optimistic" and notes that the Navy assumes the shipyard will be able to maintain the current level of performance.



unhappycamper comment: 'Optimistic' indeed.

A little history is in order.

Nimitz-class carriers usta cost $4.5 billion dollars for the ship alone, aircraft and people not included. The last Nimitz-class carrier, the G.H.W. Bush cost $6.8 billion dollars due to excessive overtime costs to get this puppy in the water before poppy popped.

Ford-class aircraft carriers give new meaning to the word expensive - this camper guesstimates that the final number for the USS Gerald R Ford will be around $40 billion dollars.