The Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) and the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) transit the Atlantic Ocean June 4, 2020, marking the first time a Ford-class and a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier operated together underway. Ford is underway conducting integrated air wing operations, and the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group remains at sea in the Atlantic as a certified carrier strike group force ready for tasking in order to protect the crew from the risks posed by COVID-19, following their successful deployment to the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of operation.
Gerald R. Ford is underway conducting integrated air wing operations, and the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group remains at sea in the Atlantic as a certified carrier strike group force ready for tasking in order to protect the crew from the risks posed by COVID-19, following their successful deployment to the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of operation. June 2, 2020, U.S. Navy has announced the largest air wing embark to date (CVW-8), and Ford’s first ordnance movement from a lower deck magazine to F/A-18E Super Hornets using Ford’s state-of-the-art Advanced Weapons Elevators during a teleconference, June 1, 2020.
USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) is the eighth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier of the United States Navy, named after the 33rd President of the United States, Harry S. Truman. Harry S. Truman is 1,092 feet (333 m) long, 257 feet (78 m) wide and is as high as a twenty-four-story building, at 244 feet (74 m). With a combat load, HST displaces almost 97,000 tons and can accommodate 6,250 crewmembers. The warship uses two Mark II stockless anchors that came from USS Forrestal and weigh 30 tons each, with each link of the anchor chain weighing 360 pounds (160 kg). She is currently equipped with three 20 mm Phalanx CIWS mounts and two Sea Sparrow SAM launchers.
Gerald R. Ford class is a class of aircraft carrier being built to replace USS Enterprise (CVN-65) and eventually the United States Navy’s existing Nimitz-class carriers, beginning with the delivery of USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78). The current Nimitz-class aircraft carriers in US naval service have been part of United States power projection strategy since Nimitz was commissioned in 1975. Displacing about 100,000 tons when fully loaded, a Nimitz-class carrier can steam faster than 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph), cruise without resupply for 90 days, and launch aircraft to strike targets hundreds of miles away. The Nimitz design has accommodated many new technologies over the decades, but it has limited ability to support the most recent technical advances.
