NORFOLK, Va. — Cost overruns, schedule delays, nowhere near combat-ready nearly three years after commissioning.
The list of problems plaguing the most expensive warship ever built, the USS Gerald R. Ford, is lengthy.
Now, the Navy is doing something about it.
The acting secretary of the Navy is pushing military and industry stakeholders to get the troubled aircraft carrier, ready to deploy, as soon as possible.
Thomas Modly has now launched what he calls the "Make Ford Ready" initiative.
In a summit last week, Modly directed more than 50 senior Navy and shipbuilding industry leaders to transition the Ford into fleet operations as quickly and effectively as possible.
"We all have a stake in the success of this effort, for the future of our Navy, our national security, and security of the world," Modly said on the Navy's website.
Key deadlines laid out by Modly include, flight deck certification is to be completed by the end of June 2020, and all elevators are to be finished by the end of June 2021.
Senate Armed Services Committee member Tim Kaine of Virginia told 13News Now he's bullish on the Ford, despite its many problems.
"The Ford-class carrier...was a completely redesigned version of the Nimitz class. So, it wasn't like we changed one or two elements. We redesigned virtually everything: The hull, the arresting gear, the propulsion system, communications, the elevators," Kaine said in an October 31, 2019 interview. "And what's happened at the shipyard as they've gone through the systems, one after the other, they've come up, ok, this is a new system, there's some glitches or challenges, so we solve it, and we come up to the next one, the elevators is the last one, and I'm confident it's going to be solved."
Since completing its Post-Shakedown Availability last October, the Navy says the Ford "has performed exceptionally well."