Commissioned in July 2017, the USS Gerald R. Ford is the most powerful and capable supercarrier ever built — but it's been dogged by repeated problems and is still not ready for combat a year after it entered service.
In April 2017 and January 2018, the Ford was sent back to port after experiencing a “main thrust bearing” failure.
In May 2018, the Ford was at sea undergoing trials, when its propulsion system malfunctioned, forcing back to port again after only three days.
The Ford has also had issues with the state-of-the-art Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System and Advanced Arresting Gear systems designed to launch and recover airplanes, which have suffered repeated delays, despite recent reports of progress.
The Ford's AAG caught its first C2-A Greyhound aircraft in late May, according to General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems.
When we reached out to renowned ship expert Eric Wertheim about our inclusion of the Ford in this piece, he pushed back.
"It's important to give new complex warships and weapon systems time to mature through operational experience," Wertheim told Business Insider in an email. "If you had looked at many of the most successful weapons and warship designs, they often might have looked like miserable failures early in their life cycle, but they eventually turned a corner."
"If a warship is still underperforming its mission after a decade or more, it's probably not a very sound design," Wertheim added.
You can take a tour of the Ford here.