USS Gerald R . Ford ( CVN - 78 ) PCU " Gerald R . Ford " ( CVN - 78 ) is to be the lead ship of its class of United States Navy supercarrier s . As announced by the U . S . Navy on 16 January 2007 , the ship will be named after the 38th President of the United States Gerald R . Ford , whose World War II naval service included combat duty aboard the light aircraft carrier in the Pacific Theater . The keel of the " Gerald R . Ford " was laid down on 13 November 2009 . Construction began on 11 August 2005 , when Northrop Grumman held a ceremonial steel cut for a 15 - ton plate that will form part of a side shell unit of the carrier . The schedule calls for the ship to join the U . S . Navy ’ s fleet in 2016 . " Gerald R . Ford " will enter the fleet replacing the inactive USS " Enterprise " CVN - 65 , which ended its 51 years of active service in December 2012 . Ship naming . In 2006 , while Gerald Ford was still alive , Senator John Warner of Virginia proposed to amend a 2007 defense - spending bill to declare that CVN - 78 " shall be named the U . S . S . " Gerald Ford " . " The final version signed by President George W . Bush on 17 October 2006 declared only that it " is the sense of Congress that . . . CVN - 78 should be named the U . S . S . " Gerald R . Ford " . " Since such " sense of " language is typically non - binding and does not carry the force of law , the Navy was not required to name the ship after Ford . On 3 January 2007 , former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announced that the aircraft carrier would be named after Ford during a eulogy for President Ford at Grace Episcopal Church in East Grand Rapids , Michigan . Rumsfeld indicated that he had personally told Ford of the honor during a visit to his home in Rancho Mirage a few weeks before Ford ' s death . This makes the aircraft carrier one of the few U . S . ships named after a living person . Later in the day , the Navy confirmed that the aircraft carrier would indeed be named for the former President . On 16 January 2007 , Navy Secretary Donald Winter officially named CVN - 78 the USS " Gerald R . Ford " . Ford ' s daughter Susan Ford Bales was named the ship ' s sponsor . The announcements were made at a Pentagon ceremony attended by Vice President Dick Cheney , Senators Warner and Levin ( D - MI ) , Major General Guy C . Swan III , Bales , Ford ' s other three children , and others . The USS " America " Carrier Veterans Association ( CVA ) had pushed to name the ship USS " America " . The CVA is an association of sailors who served aboard USS " America " ( CV - 66 ) , which was decommissioned in 1996 and scuttled in the Atlantic as part of a classified weapons damage / battle damage test of large deck aircraft carriers in 2005 . Eventually , LHA - 6 was named " America " . Construction . On 10 September 2008 the US Navy signed a $ 5 . 1 billion contract with Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding in Newport News , Virginia , to design and construct the carrier . Northrop had begun advance construction of the carrier under a $ 2 . 7 billion contract in 2005 . The carrier is being constructed at the Huntington Ingalls ( formerly Northrop Grumman ) Newport News Shipbuilding facilities in Hampton Roads , Virginia , which employs 19 , 000 workers . The keel of the new warship was ceremonially laid on 14 November 2009 in Dry Dock 12 by Ford ' s daughter , Susan Ford Bales . Said Bales in a speech to the assembled shipworkers and DoD officials , " Dad met the staggering challenges of restoring trust in the presidency and healing the nation ' s wounds after Watergate in the only way he knew how — with complete honesty and integrity . And that is the legacy we remember this morning . " As of August 2011 , the carrier was reported to be " structurally halfway complete " . In April 2012 , it was said to be 75 percent complete . On 24 May 2012 , the important milestone of completing the vessel up to the waterline was reached when the critical lower bow was lifted into place . This was the 390th of the nearly 500 lifts of the integral modular components ( from which the vessel is assembled ) that the ship ' s construction will ultimately require . On 8 October 2012 , the carrier reaches over the 88 percent of the complete structural construction . Huntington Ingals reports ( in a 8 Nov . 2012 GLOBE NEWSWIRE press release ) that they have " Reached 87 percent structural completion of CVN - 78 Gerald R . Ford " . By 19 December 2012 , construction had reached 90 percent structural completion . " " Of the nearly 500 total structural lifts needed to complete the ship , 446 have been accomplished . " " The island was originally scheduled to land in 2012 , however , the island landing and ceremony actually took place on 26 January 2013 . On 9 April 2013 , the flight deck of the carrier was completed following the addition of the ship ' s upper bow section , bringing the ship to 96 percent structural completion . On 7 May 2013 , the last of 162 superlifts was put in place , bringing the ship to 100 percent structural completion . Remaining work that needs to be done includes hull painting , shafting work , completion of electrical systems , mooring equipment , installation of radar arrays , and flooding of the dry dock . On 11 July 2013 , a time capsule was welded into a small room just above the floor , continuing a long Navy tradition . The time capsule holds items chosen by President Ford ' s daughter , Susan Ford Bales , and includes sandstone from the White House , Navy coins and aviator wings from its first commanding officer . The ship was originally scheduled for launch in July 2013 and delivery in 2015 . Production delays meant that the launch had to be delayed until 11 October 2013 and the naming ceremony until 9 November 2013 , with delivery in early 2016 . On 3 October 2013 , the " Gerald Ford " had four 30 ton , - diameter bronze propellers installed . The installation of the propellers required more than 10 months of work to install the underwater shafting . Piping , electrical systems , and the habitability areas such as the galley and mess spaces are still being worked on . On 11 October 2013 , the ship ' s drydock was flooded for the first time in order to test various seawater - based systems . Its launch date was changed yet again and is to be on the same day as its naming ceremony on 9 November 2013 .