The US Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, USS John F. Kennedy, has departed Newport News Shipbuilding, a division of American shipbuilder HII, to begin builder’s sea trials.
Underway on its own power for the first time, the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) departed HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division on January 28, 2026. These trials provide an opportunity to test ship systems and components at sea and make required adjustments prior to additional underway testing.
John F. Kennedy is the second in the Ford class of aircraft carriers. Ford-class enhancements incorporated into the design include flight deck changes, improved weapons handling systems, and a redesigned island, all resulting in increased aircraft sortie-generation rates.
The Ford class also features new nuclear power plants, increased electrical power-generation capacity, allowance for future technologies, and reduced workload for sailors, translating to a smaller crew size and reduced operating costs for the US Navy. Construction processes on Ford- class carriers are enabled by workforce learning that took place on USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) and those lessons are being applied throughout the Ford class.
Two other Ford-class aircraft carriers are currently under construction at Newport News: Enterprise (CVN 80) and Doris Miller (CVN 81).