The USS Gerald R. Ford CVN-78 will cost 9 Billion dollars

[davepc]

How many programs and spending freezes could be saved by cutting the building of this one vessel?

[Uncle Joe]

1. And it's the only known aircraft carrier

to trip while it sails.

Thanks for the thread, davepc.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. Or, just buy the admirals a bigger bathtub and a rubber ducky to play with.

[Recursion]

3. And how many jobs would that kill?

Good union jobs at that, for the most part. Building one carrier employs thousands of people for years.

[davepc]

5. cant perpetuate the military-industrial complex forever.

The LHA and LHD fleet alone is comparable to the rest of the worlds carrier capabilities.

The French are the only other nation with a CTOL currently, and India is the only other nation building one.

We could realistically cut the carrier fleet in HALF and still be the most powerful Navy in the world 2x over.

[Uncle Joe]

7. Convert those jobs to sustainable energy initiatives, a smart grid,.

solar, wind, geothermal etc.

Energy sustainability/independence would serve national security along with giving a boost to the economy and helping to save life as we know it.

An aircraft carrier is a depreciable asset which has an ongoing cost, serves little value unless we're at war or natural catastrophe. On top of that with the world advancing re; new military technologies, aircraft carriers are becoming the obsolete equivalent of battle ships; easy targets that require much in support ships to defend them.

[Arctic Dave]

10. Almost all skill sets needed to build this hunk of crap can be used in other projects

far more beneficial to the US then another war toy.

[mikelgb]

4. Pardon me?

[n2doc]

6. How nice of China to lend us the money to build it n/t

[Dr.Phool]

8. We need another aircraft carrier like we need a hole in the fucking head.

[northzax]

9. among other things, your graphic is misleading

both the Kitty Hawk and the JFK are in mothballs, The Enterprise was laid down in 1961 and due to be decommissioned in 2012. in fact, the Enterprise is the second oldest ship still in commission in the Navy, behind the Constitution (launched 1797) the Nimitz, laid down in 68, is due for decommissioning in 2013.

[old mark]

11. 2 of the US super-carriers listed above are no longer in service, and the Ford is

still being built. The smaller ships are air assault ships that carry Marines to battle, and they carry Harriers, various helicopters and transport aircraft such as the Osprey.

I agree we have a lot of carriers already, but don't make it worse than it is. FWIW, the cost of actually sailing these ships is enormous, crews number in the thousands per ship.

Again, the Ford is the first ship of its class, and with research and development will cost a total of $15 billion...the $9 billion figure is just for the construction cost. There are 10 ships planned in the Ford class - it is supposed to be a 21st century design, and will supplant the existing Nimitz class nuclear powered supercarriers.

The Ford class carriers will be faster, stealthier, carry and service more advanced aircraft and do it all with a smaller crew.

At least that's what they say....

They are expected to be building Ford class carriers till sometime in the 2040's...The next 2 are already planned to be built over the next 10 years.

Why do we need 10 or more supercarriers at the same time?

Because they can be sunk by a $25,000 anti-ship missile, a $10,000 torpedo or a $1500 mine.


mark