“Recent underway periods have provided my staff and my warfare commanders a greater understanding of how Ford and Nimitz-classes are similar and how they are different, but this underway will enable us to learn how we will fight the Ford-class,” noted Rear Admiral Craig Clapperton, commander, CSG-12.

As Rear Admiral Meier put it: “It is not difficult to see the air wing of the future operating off of this deck with much greater speed, agility and reach than the legacy air wing.”

While the Navy’s newest class of super-carrier has the same overall footprint as the predecessor class, its use of space is different: The Ford’s “island,” which houses its command center, is set 140 feet further aft and has been slightly redesigned. It creates a more substantial stretch of aircraft flight line at the fore, with five usable acres compared with the Nimitz’s four and a half.