USS ''Enterprise'' (CVN-80) will be the third to be built for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. She will be the ninth United States naval vessel and third aircraft carrier to bear the name, and is scheduled to be in operation by 2028. Her construction began in August 2017 with a steel-cutting ceremony.

Naming

On December 1 2012, during the presentation of a pre-recorded speech at the inactivation ceremony for , then-Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced that CVN-80 would be named ''Enterprise''. She will be the ninth ship and the third aircraft carrier in the history of the United States Navy to bear the name. CVN-80 will also be the first American supercarrier not to be named in honor of a person since was commissioned in 1966. In December 2016, Mabus chose Olympic gold medalists

Katie Ledecky Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky (born March 17, 1997) is an American competitive swimmer. She has won seven Olympic gold medals and 19 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. Ledecky's six individual gold medals at ...

and Simone Biles to sponsor the ship.

Construction

CVN-80 is being built by

Huntington Ingalls Industries HII (formerly Huntington Ingalls Industries, Inc.) is the largest military shipbuilding company in the United States as well as a provider of professional services to partners in government and industry. HII, ranked No. 371 on the Fortune 500, w ...

Newport News Shipbuilding Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), a division of Huntington Ingalls Industries, is the largest industrial employer in Virginia, and sole designer, builder and refueler of United States Navy aircraft carriers and one of two providers of U.S. Navy ...

in Newport News, Virginia. CVN-80 is the first aircraft carrier completely designed and built through digital platforms. The first cut of steel ceremony, marking the beginning of fabrication of the ship's components, was held on August 21 2017, with the ship's sponsors Katie Ledecky and Simone Biles present. Construction began in advance of the purchase contract and construction award, in early 2018. Steel from CVN-65 will be recycled and used in the construction of CVN-80. As of August 2022, approximately 20,000 pounds of steel, from CVN-65, has been salvaged and recycled for inclusion into CVN-80, with another 15,000 pounds still to be processed, for a total of 35,000 pounds. ''Enterprise'' will also incorporate four portholes taken from

CV-6 USS ''Enterprise'' (CV-6) was a carrier built for the United States Navy during the 1930s. She was the seventh U.S. Navy vessel of that name. Colloquially called "The Big E", she was the sixth aircraft carrier of the United States Navy. Launc ...

, her

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

predecessor. ''Enterprise'' will replace and is scheduled to be launched in November 2025, with a planned delivery date of March 2028. The ship's keel was laid, with no specific ceremony, on April 5, 2022, three weeks ahead of schedule. The shipbuilder held an official keel-laying ceremony on 27 August of the same year.

References

External links

DoD press release naming CVN-80 ''Enterprise''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Enterprise (CVN-80) Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers

Naming

Construction

See also

References

External links