Jay Clemens
Huntington Ingalls Industries has tested the anchor windlass system of the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier prior to its turnover to the U.S. Navy in 2016.
The Newport News Shipbuilding division performed the testing by adding weight to the anchor and retrieving the anchor and chain using Ford’s windlass system, Huntington Ingalls said Tuesday.
“By testing each system on the ship, we are able to demonstrate to our customer, the U.S. Navy, that the systems perform as designed,†said Derek Briggs, in charge of testing the anchor’s system.
The anchor weighs 30,000 pounds, which is half the weight of Gerald R. Ford’s previous anchor systems.
The Nimitz-class carrier also features an anchor handling system.
