Building Integrity, Building Ford: A Documentary

[Music] we're defending america's freedom right here and just knowing you know that we're on here together making this happen [Applause] it's one of those things you know you know you get that once a lifetime chance so when you you got to go give it everything you got the brand new design brand new class brings a lot of new challenges yeah it was exciting to know that you were going to be part of a program that you had basically a blank sheet to go design you had a lot of really smart engineers and managers that have been working on the program developing concepts and they needed to put those concepts to paper how does it make me feel to know that i'm on the first class this just this super carrier it's a great feeling because dealing with the the yesterday carriers this is a big challenge this has been a big challenge a big change i'm a big geek when it comes to watching documentaries on carriers and i'm like oh yeah the nimitz cloud carrier that's cool not very proud of this available just like i am so to watch the ship go from bare metal still it's been put together been watching the welding watching the pipefitters watching every trade be engaged and getting the ship built is like it's overwhelming feeling to watch that and the foundation that we're building here today at gerald r ford will last for the next 50 plus years it will last throughout our lives if we get this right gerald r ford will go on to be not just the most technologically advanced warship in the navy but the greatest warship in the navy [Music] i started with the ford class back in 1996 they needed some designers to start working on concept designs it was called cvx at that time we didn't know if the carrier would be a nuclear carrier you know a gas turbine carrier a oil fire turbine coal carrier we didn't know as a team we came together in building 600 and we were working out of two cubicles so it was a lot of engineers and a few designers kind of all in one location had really good collaboration any idea was a good idea so through the years we developed multiple design iterations designs of the raft compartment into rooms and that's where we started with designing and building the propulsion plant back in 1996 we had at one point time we had 20 different designs of those compartments and we started down selecting through integrated product teams with navsea and newport news we had electric boat on board at that time also and we started selecting what was the right design for this carrier that met the requirements of the navy and we came through all those and uh and and just barely we were you know kind of in the you know what is it uh crawl walk run we were thinking about how to crawl when i first went over there and then you know i talked about it to try to get the team excited about what they were doing i said you know we're building the ship today in ones and zeros inside the computer to try to get people excited about it it took many years through the design process working in a 3d environment where you could go walk through the ship we still called it a paper ship because we hadn't started construction yet so it was many years through that process before we cut steel so it was a paper ship and we didn't know if the navy was you know going to execute this at the time we came out of the subway we saw the building on fire someone told us a plane flow we have some breaking news out of new york city this morning we were having a design review that day so we had the navy in here like a little before nine o'clock in the morning we heard this big you know boom sort of you know it was unbelievable so the you know phone started going off everybody you know there was kind of a everything everybody a lot of cross talk amongst the navy and finally somebody said hey you know something's going on is there a tv so we we took a time out kind of a pause in the design review and put it up on the screen was just about the time the world trade tower started coming down it was one of those moments that it was really it kind of it kind of lined up with you know what a terrible thing that's happening but what we're doing it's what we're doing is all that much more important but it caused us to to find that other gear that we needed to to kind of give us that motivation that said we got to get going this thing it kind of gave you a sense of purpose it was maybe a little different than than you had on the on the 10th of september so it's with our navy and congressional partners that today we cut some of the first steel for the next generation aircraft carrier cvn-21 once it was declared it was a nuclear carrier it was cv-21 the carrier for the 21st century it was still a concept it didn't have a place or a number into the end of the navy's fleet cvn 21 is an investment in our future and the department of the navy is urgently moving forward to turn our plans into reality with that in mind today it is my great pleasure to announce that the department of the navy's newest aircraft carrier cvn 78 the first in the new class of cdn 21 carriers will be named uss gerald r ford president ford as many americans have over the years come to more fully appreciate was a historical figure a great president and a man of the highest character and integrity my dad was such a humble man and and never expected anything like this and i'm so glad that he was alive for that experience and to know that you know the cvn 78 was going to be named after him and it's just the excitement and every time i think of it i think of when rumsfeld came to give dad the hat i mean the smile on dad's face was just unbelievable and those are the things that you look at and you go wow it's just another part of his legacy sharing his legacy with the world and it's just another compliment whether it's it's the people building the ship or the people who are going to serve on it how proud dad would be to be part of this wonderful creation that's going to represent our country throughout the world for a half a century he was a very modest person and be the last to have thought of this for him but to be part of that team and that's the way he would think about it is he was part of the the uss gerald r14 is something that i know was very special to him as commander-in-chief gerald r ford applied american influence with wisdom and insight he stood firmly by the men and women of the armed forces and left office with the military in a higher state of readiness and morale than when he found him he was quick to share the credit with the fine people who served alongside him from henry kissinger to bench scrollcroft to don rumsfeld and jack marsh it was my privilege as well to be on jerry ford's team both during a difficult transition and through all the challenges of his time in office all of us who were there count the experience as one of the truly great periods of our lives when we worked for one of the most genuine upright and considerate men we have ever known i'm very happy to share with you that we've signed a 5.1 billion dollar contract with the navy on september 10th to complete the ford class design and build the first ship of the class cbn 78 this is an important and historic milestone for our company our navy and our country it represents an incredible opportunity to build the first new aircraft carrier class in more than 40 years your hard work has taken this ship from a virtual design environment and has begun to bring it to life on the waterfront we've already built more than 280 base a units and 420 more have already started fabrication or assembly one of those units was built by our fellowship builders on the gulf coast we also built brand new facilities to support cvn 78's construction examples include the c maf the seamoth and the heavy plate bay and the upgrade to our signature 900-ton crane will complete in november in short we're well on our way to laying the ford's keel in 2009. thank you for joining me in this extraordinary tribute to dad good morning and welcome to the kill lane and authentication ceremony for the aircraft carrier gerald r ford cvn 78. now i know this is a big day for the entire ford family and it's also a big day for the shipbuilders who are building ford when people describe president gerald r ford you hear certain characteristics repeated again and again integrity commitment steadfastness honesty and uncompromising ethics it's important that everyone especially the ford family know that it is these words these characteristics that we as shipbuilders will use as our guideposts in building this ship named after the 38th president of the united states we are shipbuilders this is our duty our obligation a job we take very seriously and one we are truly honored to perform when a new carrier sets to sea her shipbuilders quality and pride leave the construction site often to become a faint memory in the history of the carrier let us resolve today that this will not be the case when the uss gerald r ford sets to sea at this time i'd like to ask the shipbuilders and their families to please stand [Applause] and now susan if you would join me senator levin secretary mabus and admiral donald on the platform to our left we will officially authenticate the keel for the uss gerald r4 my dad were here he'd do it so he can't and so my goal is to do what he would have wished himself to have done you know it was like wow my name is attached to the next group of carriers i hereby declare the keel of the united states navy aircraft carrier gerald r ford cbn 78 truly and fairly laid west michigan's news leader is 24-hour news eight 24-hour news eight was the only west michigan station to go to virginia for that keel lane ceremony favorite son former president gerald ford was remembered today at a special keel lane ceremony for the 7 billion aircraft carrier that will bear his name the killing is really the start of a really the acceleration of the construction of the ship there's a lot of work going on in the other shops getting things ready to go you really understand you're what you're getting ready to go there's no turning [Music] [Music] back so first of class you start out with a little less knowledge of what you're really getting into we certainly know how to build ships uh we have tremendous craftsman lots of different skills we bring together to put that whole thing together i mean initially you realize that you're part of a bigger picture here and when you see this boat as it comes to life you realize that wow you know it's very important it's it matters [Music] and it's just it's so enormous at times when we hit those milestones i mean even though we see it every day we see parts being moved we see bulkheads being moved once it comes together it's a pause it's a sense of pride it's a sense of ownership that we've all come together to make this happen first of a class it you certainly have a pretty good plan to start with but you get a lot more curveballs with the first of the class and that's you know so the best laid plans really just sets you up to understand what your opportunities are to work through those other issues but you know really executing that plan with the right craftsman in some cases you decide whether you're using an expert or possibly using the opportunity to train a new guy on how to become an expert so a lot of different decisions go into that choreography from what happens when as well as who you apply to the work when you see it on the fast track and you're like wow you know you can't believe that years have passed but you're right even at a snail's pace sometimes i'll turn around or we'll go in the dock and i said wow i did work on that a month ago or wow that's what i was working on and that's what it ended up being it's just amazing so some of the challenges we faced on cvn 78 were really a result of a lot of the new technology being implemented on the ship you know the structural steel was relatively straightforward there were some new things there but you know that's uh not a lot of high-tech you know it's stuff there it's as you put new systems on and understand how to integrate those systems and how to build those systems where it ran into some challenges and people have to understand this is the ship is a prototype so there is no uh prototype out there flying around like an airplane or something you might do for a car this is a prototype and a production model at the same time so what is the pressure to be responsible for a billion dollar ship and work on a first to class uh for me i don't necessarily see it as pressure i see it as responsibility if that makes sense um you know i'm confident in the whole team and what we collectively know and how to solve problems so i know whatever challenges we face we're ready for them i know we have a lot of ship building knowledge we know how to take care of a ship we know how to build a ship so from that perspective there's not a lot of pressure it's just a lot of responsibility to to bring that together and deliver as quickly and with the highest quality as possible [Music] today we celebrate the first island landing on the first gerald r ford class carrier cbn 78 we are not just witnessing an important construction milestone but we are witnessing history when i think of the island landing which is the first time that i met captain meyer i've never been so cold in my entire life was freezing to death but it but it was an important ceremony so every ceremony and every progression is has its own special meaning i would like to ask our lead crane rigger mr curtis ealy to come forward and bring susan to shipyard radio susan's going to talk to our our crane operator david rushing and give the official order david this is susan ford bale good morning how are you this morning i'm good david lift and move the island it really struck me when i had the opportunity to place my wings underneath the island and the island was placed on top of my wings and i i saw them get crushed into the deck i really drove home the point to me that the work that we do here at gerald r ford today will last for 50 plus years [Applause] [Music] we always keep rolling from the island house to the bow to whatever's next we always are ready to make the best ship for the navy [Music] it's like when you're a little kid playing with the blocks building the big tower never built anything this amazing as a kid so this right here is just a dream job to a point when you pick up the upper bow it's a big unit with a small base we don't have much to sit it on we've got to be right to be the one the final guy who puts it on the ship taking everybody else's hard work and putting it together i feel like everybody's counting on me to do that job to carry on their work to the next level [Music] today's a big day we're going to flood the dock and start this whole undocking process so thrilled uh you know i've been working this thing since 1999 and i i've been waiting for this day for a long time there's probably not a shipbuilder out here that doesn't have a smile from ear to ear we really started in earnest a test program when it gets in the water today's a great day lots of ship builders have worked very hard to get us here we're finally at the point where we're going to flood the dock it's fantastic well i i have to say she's awful pretty but i loved her from the beginning and i'll love her till the end and uh i'm excited but it looks great it's impressive very very impressive it was a big milestone it took years to get here a lot of man-hours a lot of hard work but we're we're ship builders and that's what we do everybody has a part in it to make sure that it's successful flooding when they flood the dock you know it is a big turn of events it's you know the ship's starting to come to life first time the water hits it it's actually you know almost like a living thing it's an amazing sight i timed it it takes seven and a half minutes from the end of the dock to where it comes to the first kill block on the front of the boat so it's just uh amazing to see that water come in you know you worked hard and and everybody's you know the team has worked hard to uh to come to this point our ford will be the newest and most sophisticated carrier in the world when it's finally commissioned in just a couple of years never thought this day would come and to put something together like this and to sit back and look and see what you've done it means a lot to you and to pull off a christening like this it takes a lot of dedication and it takes a lot of hard work well we had all of our vendors come in to support us on these outfits and it usually will take a good five days to get everything set up with about 12 hour days and when you have about 13 000 chairs to set up it's a pretty busy day we set up all the barges platforms steps stairs access for people getting on and off the site i have my team o43 we're setting up the electrical service and really the biggest part in setting this site up has been x-36 all the lifting and handling that we need to do to get the large components in place it does take the efforts of many and a lot of patients [Music] for me just you know seeing the look of pride on the ship builders faces um them getting to bring their families in and to see what they build seeing the hard work of the team come together it's you know it's a lot to do for an hour and a half ceremony but it's totally worth it [Music] it is my great pleasure to welcome you to newport news shipbuilding and to the christening of gerald r ford cbn [Music] 78. can you see [Music] how fitting lord this morning we gather to christen a ship whose namesake personified integrity as an eagle scout naval officer husband father and yes president of the united states today i am extremely proud to be here representing the 23 000 shipbuilders of newport news they are the magic and art behind the science of shipbuilding and they make it all happen because we know when uss gerald r ford joins the fleet she will stand as a symbol of sovereign u.s territory wherever she sails she will represent her namesake a man who embodied integrity honor and courage and she will forever carry with her the spirit of her sponsor the strength of her crew and the heart of her shipbuilders he beamed when i took a hat like these uss gerald r ford hats baseball caps and put it on his head and gave him a sketch of what this amazing aircraft carrier would look like he was still strong and a friend a good friend becoming president especially by accident of history doesn't automatically get a man's name on a carrier the honor conveys the special regard of the navy and of the people of the united states he saw america through its travails through the end of the war in vietnam as well by wisdom and by strength of character 37 years after he left office and seven years after he left us this president seems an only larger figure in our history like the carrier he's impressive from any distance may this ship and all who sail her bring nothing but credit to our country just as her namesake did in the many years of service to come may she give strength to america's cause and be a force for the good wherever time and chance should find the uss gerald r ford this shipyard's motto always good ships is not just a phrase it's a way of life here for over a century there is nothing absolutely nothing that can describe how proud i am to be your fellow shipbuilder your integrity and patriotic commitments to excellence are without equal shipbuilders of newport news you are a national treasure and now for the moment we've all been waiting for i christen the united states ship gerald r ford may god bless the ship and all who sail her once it was broken it was just it was really kind of a shock more than anything because i was like oh my god i did it it's been an amazing experience and i just feel extremely privileged to be a part of it [Music] [Applause] [Music] it's go go go until we hit the finish line well it's been 400 years to get here it's usually just a small breath for us a little break now we're going to move it down to the river down south where we're going to do some compartment completion all the electrical all the plumbing finish that up get into the testing phase and get it turned over to our customer us navy it's pretty amazing what people can do with their hands and there's a lot more to it with that with all the planning and the engineering but the people on the waterfront that are actually down here welding machining and building it it's just amazing that so many people can come together and create something as awesome as this there's nothing that i've ever done that i can compare this to i never thought that i would be doing something like this a lot of people don't realize what we do to make something like this happen they see the end result and they love the end of the result but they don't know what we put into it to make it happen and i enjoyed the work i've always liked working with my hands so and what we do here to me is just amazing well i enjoy what i do i um i enjoy seeing things come together and like i said seeing it start from the keel to where it's at now it's an amazing process to be a part of and it's really a cool process it does feel special working on this specific carrier it's my first carrier but it's a different carrier you know everyone's always come from these older ships but this is all new this is an electrical boat it's highly technologically advanced and it's just a it's a great feeling to know that i'm part of a brand new era of carriers it is an unbelievable feeling to know that you had a large part in making this dream come true for the navy i mean this is by far one of the best warships they will ever have for years to come it's very special i mean to be the first to do something this big and have everybody looking at it wondering hey is this going to work it's amazing to say the least it's first class we've had in 50 60 years new equipment everywhere you look there's something brand new from the kitchen to the catapults to aircraft elevators this could be a great ship for them and uh every day's a challenge for us as well as for them as far as getting this thing out to sea and doing the things that they do with it although i do believe that this is going to be one of the greatest ships ever built here newport news it's really remarkable the ship itself is you know it's a brand new design brand new class uh brings a lot of new challenges the ship itself you know it's not just a transition it's a leap to the future a lot of new technologies catapults are just one of them we're the pioneers of this new system we're the first ones to do it we're the first ones to experience all the issues and overcome those issues and make things better that's the first of its kind i mean it's a huge sense of pride i imagine it's probably what it was like for the people that built the enterprise you know 50 years ago we've talked about emals for years and to get rid of the steam catapult and switch to the system is a big deal it's essentially like a roller coaster it's a series of electromagnets that turn on and off over the you know 340 so feet that takes an aircraft from dead stop to 160 180 knots it'll provide a lot more less wear and tear on the aircraft the ship the air wing will benefit from that it really really is an innovative design it's huge absolutely huge and i worked nimitz class carriers and and steam catapults and i thought i knew catapults and i came over here and got my hands in here and it's every day is a you're learning something new and and you see how it is gonna to benefit the navy the really the the marquee thing that says a catapult is ready is you launch deadloads the dead loads essentially just a large weighted sled on wheels that simulates the weight of an aircraft we'll hook it on just as if it's an aircraft we'll take tension pull it back give the command and we'll shoot it into the river and it makes a glorious splash having sued susan four bales come up on the ship and watch a dead load shoot and shoot the dead load off and press fire and you know she really is involved in it just almost as much as we are she knows that we broke our backs and that we spent long days and a lot of people don't realize what we do to make something like this happen they see the end result and they love the end of the result but they don't know what we put into it to make it happen and that goes for everybody that had their hands on this email assistant [Music] she was out there giving the commands to shoot the dead road she's very much into it and like i said one of the best sponsors i've ever seen she kind of jumped up in the air i think she was as excited about it as any of us susan told me later that day it was a proud moment for her and i believe that i think that she again she is just so genuine and really really appreciates all that that we're doing you know really in her father's namesake [Music] [Applause] i call it the deep abyss places where you will never actually see on the boat it's only about 60 of us in the whole shipyard right now i consider us to be probably the world's best ship builders sandblasters i call this a few good men basically what we do is clean the steel up make it shiny brand new we're in the jbd pit number one which is the jet blast deflecting doors where we're in the inside blasting we have to get it prepared for a good spray job so that it can be operational and it won't um corrode as time goes on and the jets and stuff have to take off the sandblasters they're kind of one of the unspoken heroes of the shipyard i mean these areas normally will never get accessed again so you want to make sure that the coating system is on it is proper and it will hold up for the 50 years of life of the ship these are custom-built one-of-a-kind ships and you know it's nothing but time and we put a lot of quality into what we do and we're proud of what we do i mean this is what defends this country and keeps us where we are i mean you know freedom is [Music] everything each compartment you know it's like we're selling them a piece of their home that's when we come in together as a team and we inspect the space make sure that uh there's no items there's nothing missing they check with a mirror they look behind look at the foundations below they look up and above the beams it's a very thorough inspection then once we get it inspected the navy signs for it sos signs for it and it's their space that's how we sell the ship space by space oh yes i feel like some of the work that i do around here i could write my signature on it because i'm very proud of my work i feel excited like like i came in this room when i first started this space i helped build this space it was you know no bunks it was just bulkheads we ran wires hooked up all the lights and everything and i come back in that after all the furnitures and it's like oh i did that i'd like to speak directly to the newport news shipbuilders my fellow shipbuilders let me say this again because i'm proud to say it my fellow shipbuilders i hope i have had an impact it has been a privilege to serve them because of the joy that they brought to my heart and to our family part of it is what jerry ford would have done jerry ford got dirty got down in the weeds in his district got to know his constituents and that's the way the ford family rolls and to be a prima donna and sit on the side and not be involved was not is not the way we do things and i did what my dad would have done well gerald r ford has been blessed to have the finest sponsor that i think the navy has ever seen susan ford bales and her family have been wholly committed to developing the crew but she is also a shipbuilder as well i mean susan ford will come in and she has done work on the ship she's pulled cables she's aligned units there is nothing that she won't do she's just she's just amazing you know i consider her a friend i tell you from girls from ship sponsors i've seen a several come and go but but susan bales no one can hold a light to her any day that she comes out here and see a ship that's named after her father is a good day for the shipyard in for us there you go this has come a long way hey how are you nice to meet you thank you for your work it's an amazing feeling seeing ms bells come on here and shake our hand and and be a part of it with us i really do think she's you know as much part of the ship as any of us and having a sponsor that involved really is an amazing feeling and having almost that she has our backs and that no matter what goes on she knows that we're going to get it done and she has that confidence in us susan has been the most engaged sponsor i've ever seen she really appreciates the ship builders she wanted to know what we're doing so she could be a good sponsor and you know she's moving on now to be the ship sponsor and she will spend a lot more time with the crew they're very fortunate susan her presence here has been astronomical coming aboard the ship and cutting the ribbon getting ready for a crew mover board and presenting everything in the galley it was outstanding she welcomed everybody she even served people on deck and basically became a part of the crew it's a very exciting experience to know that you are part of helping the the crew helping the country it it's remarkable [Music] we know we're not finished with the ship yet we have a long journey is still ahead of us in that you know ship turnaround is coming and i sea trials we still have a lot of work coming at us so we're ready for that to see it at the final stages knowing all the hard work and effort that's going in by each and every one of us hourly as well as a leadership team like i said it's uh it's going to be good to see her go out to move a vessel this size i was in awe i was busy working but still being able to take the opportunity to stop and watch it every so often it is a it's a massive move and these things just don't move on their own when they have no power so it's incredible the time that has taken it and the hard work is really paying off the reason we're turning the ship around today is to support propulsion plant testing and to gear up for builder sea trouts and shift delivery oh yeah it's it's it's a huge task you know this ships over three football fields long and then you got all the tug boats hooking on to it and actually working together as a team coordinating it this is the shipbuilding capital of the world we build the best ships in the world and we're proud of that [Music] mr president welcome what a magnificent day this is for the young life of this mighty ship mr president you have spoken passionately about america's greatness and there are no finer examples of that greatness than the crew of the uss gerald r ford and the newport news shipwreckers it will not only be a great symbol of american strength but a great legacy for your father and our former president gerald ford congratulations to all of the men and women who helped build it this is american craftsmanship at its biggest at its best at its finest live this is 19 news nightcast at 11. a top u.s navy officer says the uss gerald r ford is expected to head out soon for its first round of sea trials the 12 points the gerald r ford left newport news shipbuilding april 8 about 4 p.m down the james river through the chesapeake bay and out to sea where she met the atlantic ocean for the very first time it's great there's a lot of work to put you know the team that i'm a part of we put in a lot of long days and it's just nice to be part of this and be able to take it out to sea there's a great feeling of accomplishment here for me because i feel like i've been through the life cycle it was a part of the product model when i started in so you know it was almost like an idea we were looking at it on a computer screen bringing the piece parts together and now here it is you know when we have just about a finished product and it's moving in the water that's the great part about working at the shipyard everybody's coming from different places everybody's coming from different backgrounds and are just able to work together and get the job done so i'm just proud to be a part of the shipbuilding team sea trials are important for us since i've been on the boat since 2009 to see every little piece that we installed then lead up to what their final mission is since we can't just hand them keys with a done carrier we have to do this in increments and steps so to tie it all together to put it out here and make it all work together has its challenges and that's why we're here and we'll uh go again for acceptance trials but to get through builders trials and be able to say we've done everything this ship should see in the next 50 years and kind of packed that into five days it's exciting it's challenging but we're going to get through it [Music] it's building an entire almost a city and then making that city move there's a lot of moving parts to this trial especially with everything kind of coming together at once so the the real hub you know this center is really the platform hall mechanical electrical center where we coordinate all the tests and demonstrations for that area when you really look at it to think about what you're doing and seeing this 100 000 ton piece of metal moving through the water now and trying to make sure that all the systems work and work like they're supposed to it's it's very challenging and to be quite honest very tiring at times we're testing the emergency steering for cv78 what will happen is if at sea we lose main steering two sailors will take control one on starboard one on port and they'll control the ship via the trick wheel so this is a backup to that if for some reason the rudders can't respond to anything else [Music] from the moment we get on we know we have a set window to get all of our testing done powell stands for precision aircraft landing pals test it's one of those systems where you have to be at sea because you need the flights coming in houses are used to land the aircraft and that's basically what you want making sure that the two different systems are tracking the planes and able to uh do what they're designed to do [Applause] piles is just a portion of all the testing that we had to get done and anything goes wrong we have to fix it on the spot and then do a re-test of of those systems to ensure that they are tested and certified [Applause] aqueous film forming foam basically all it does is uh it creates a layer of bubbles that prevents oxygen from getting to the fire and it's also effective which helps break the water tension of the liquid it saves people and saves equipment it saves the ship prevents further damage and then you want to keep this thing floating when you're safe the flight deck they do the same thing as a hangar bay but it's up on the flight deck it sprays up creates a layer of foam and covers the fuel well i mean this is what we live for i mean this is like seeing the system in operation i mean this is like the end result and make sure that it works correctly before we turn it over the navy you see people do things every day uh putting their pride into the work and then presenting it to the customer they see it the customer sees it they like you know getting a ship that people really put their pride into and and it's reflective of everything when you look at the you know each part of the ship uh what we've done lately here is is test it and and really exercise every aspect of it and that's what that's what you know part of our job but also part of what we want to do to make sure the customer gets the ship they need [Music] so during the high speed turns we we went up to max speed that the propulsion plant could take you to and did full swings of the runner all the way to its maximum limit to the port side then all the way to maximum loop to the parts starboard side and the ship starts to turn so it turns the rudder and we saw down there the the rudder the ram room the rams push the rudder over and then it takes just a little while and then the ship starts to turn and all the weight of that water and the ship pushing against that rudder is all being tested here at sea and gets that ship in that high speed turn that really lays us over and it's it's neat to stand on hangar bay leaned over that far [Music] anchor's very important to have that emergency backup to be able to anchor somewhere so you're not going to drift into something and run aground the new anchor system has electronic capabilities new design has a new braking system so that system was fully tested and we're confident that you could do a slow release of the anchor or if you had to do an emergency a faster release we tested the fast release and catch capabilities of the anchor so that was that was a very successful test the first ship of a class is always going to be challenging you know and the more sophisticated more high the higher tech technologies have have proven to be hard we've certainly shown we're up to the challenge and we're fighting our way through it going to cause us to stay out to see a couple more days but uh you know i started on this project in 99 so i wouldn't uh wouldn't have missed it for the world so uh you know it's it's something to see it have gone from you know the early days of concept and planning and 3d product model and first cuts of steel and heel laying events you know today you'll see what it looks like and you know it's pretty amazing it really [Music] is ladies and gentlemen welcome in the commissioning of united states ship gerald r ford everyone should take a moment to celebrate this incredible achievement being a shipbuilder isn't easy work and it's not for everyone and i tell you that we're also pretty lucky we're lucky to work in an industry that allows us to be part of something greater than ourselves there is no one absolutely no one who would be prouder of the commissioning of this mighty ship than the president of the united states gerald r ford i guess my biggest dream is that she makes america proud that she has a good history that all of this hard work that we have put into building her tests to be the best i will be watching a bit more from afar but if i had to sum up my 11 years it's been exhilarating on behalf of the 38th president of the united states and as your ship's sponsor i am honored to give the command officers and crew of the united states gerald r ford man our ship and bring her to life [Music] you

Channel: Huntington Ingalls Industries

Views: 264,617

Rating: 4.7330155 out of 5

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Id: AHn1G9HLR2A

Length: 50min 22sec (3022 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 18 2017