Nichols Martin
Huntington Ingalls Industries has installed the forward section of the main deck on a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier the company is building for the U.S. Navy.
HII said Monday its Newport News Shipbuilding division has completed approximately 75 percent of USS John F. Kennedy structures through a “modular” building process, wherein smaller sections of a ship are consolidated into a superlift structural unit.
Engineers equip the superlifts with piping, electrical components, ventilation and joiner-made fittings before transferring the platform to the dry dock.
The carrier’s forward section weighs 750 metric tons and consists of machinery spaces above forward diesel generators, HII noted.
Newport News Shipbuilding also installed two generators of the electromagnetic aircraft launch system, as well as the flight deck’s first piece that features command-and-control systems, pilot support spaces, a jet blast deflector and arresting gear system components.
HII added that 341 of 447Â JFK ship sections have been put in place.
USS Kennedy, designated as CVN 79, is second carrier of the Navy’s Gerald R. Ford class and is scheduled for delivery in 2022.
