ACIBC Fact Sheet: Northrop Grumman
USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) Commissioning Ceremony
- Since 1961, Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding in Newport News has been building aircraft carriers for the U.S. Navy. Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding is the only shipyard in the U.S. equipped to build, overhaul, and refuel large-deck, nuclear powered aircraft carriers.
- In 1961, Newport News Shipbuilding and Drydock Company (now Northrop Grumman Newport News) built the first large-deck, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise (CVN 65), and since that time, has constructed all nuclear-powered carriers of the Nimitz class.
- Construction of Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), the first ship in the newest class of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, has begun in Newport News, Virginia. The ship's keel was laid on November 14, 2009 and delivery to the Navy is scheduled for 2015.
- In January 2009 Northrop Grumman received a contract for construction preparation of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier CVN-79. The carrier, which has yet to be named, is the second ship of the Gerald R. Ford class. The full scale construction contract for CVN-79 is expected to begin in 2012.
- The Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers are the next generation of aircraft carriers, featuring an enhanced flight deck with increased sortie rates, improved weapons movement, a redesigned island, a new nuclear power plant, and growth margin for future technologies and reduced manning.
- Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding is the only shipyard to perform overhaul and refueling work on Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, a three-year project that includes the refueling of reactors, as well as significant modernization work.