 The USS Gerald Ford is the most technologically advanced and most expensive ship ever built. This weekend the Navy christened that ship here in Newport News, Virginia. While much of this weekend's fanfare will surround the christening, this is a project that has been going on for four years and it won't be delivered for another two. So we came to Newport News, Virginia to see what the ship looks like and what it might look like in the future. The USS Gerald Ford replaces what the Navy called its Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, a fleet of ten nuclear warships designed in the late 1960s and commissioned in May 1975. The Nimitz-class is still in operation, but in 1996 Navy officials knew they'd need a new ship for the 21st century. The Navy wanted to house at least 75 aircraft on the new ship's deck and it wanted a better nuclear energy system. As designs progressed, those requests became more precise and more numerous. Newport News Shipbuilding Company worked to turn those requests into reality. First, the company decided the Ford would use electricity for power instead of steam. In the Nimitz-class carrier you had a lot of service steam. Whether it went to the laundry, the galley, a lot of areas of the ship. So here we replaced all that with electrical powered systems. So there's less maintenance to do. Those steam pipes corrode, you have to go do maintenance on the valves and flush them, you know, cut them out, replace them, overhauls. Here you won't have to do any of that. The cable is designed to last the life of the ship, very low maintenance. That would allow for a host of new innovations. Four of those new innovations stand out. The first is something called flexible infrastructure architecture. This is a modular design concept, so if the Navy wants to convert a room from being a storage space into a boardroom, for example, it can do that without having to hire big crews to take care of the work. Another innovation is advanced weapons elevators. Relying on electromagnetic fields instead of cables, these massive elevators can carry twice as much material than their predecessors. So we have one less aircraft elevator than Nimitz-class. This has three as opposed to the four. All that was part of the design to enhance flight deck usage. So that's a key aspect, right? That's what the carrier does. A third major change is the use of an electromagnetic aircraft launch system. Known as EMALS, these use an electromagnetic field to catapult aircraft into the sky. Previous versions of these launchers used steam and cables. Compared with their predecessors, EMALS are lighter, smaller, more efficient, and more reliable. They can also launch a fighter jet every 45 seconds. And then there's the multifunction radar. Known as a dual-band radar, these combine the tools used for big picture scans as well as precision targeting. In the past, those activities were completely separate. Now those two pieces are the same. This means fewer radar antennas are spinning and fewer people are required to keep tabs on the ship's surroundings. This is a design that has not been battle tested. That's a risk. This is a boat that's supposed to remain on the water for 50 years. And it's a design that's supposed to last for 80. But engineers are confident that it will. Having greater electrical power capacity, you can bring on new technologies for the life of the ship. It'll have enough air conditioning and ventilation and electrical power so that no matter how the technology changes going forward, which we may not even know today, we'll be able to upgrade, swap out, and bring on that new technology without having to change the infrastructure of the ship. Are innovations like these worth $13 billion, which is the amount of money taxpayers are expected to spend on the Ford before it's complete? A report from the Government Accountability Office in September said maybe not. The report called the project high risk, even though Newport News Shipbuilding says the warship is structurally 100 percent complete already. Only time will tell if that concern is warranted. In the meantime, the people overseeing the ship's progress are confident it'll carry the U.S. Navy well into the 21st century. We're going to bring all the shipbuilder expertise to put this great ship together, and then we work in conjunction with the crew, with ships for us, to start turning it over to them little by little. And we get to know them personally and see them take ownership of the ship and take it and drive it. So that's the thing I'll remember.
 The USS Gerald Ford is the most technologically advanced and most expensive ship ever built.
 This weekend the Navy christened that ship here in Newport News, Virginia.
 While much of this weekend's fanfare will surround the christening, this is a project
 that has been going on for four years and it won't be delivered for another two.
 So we came to Newport News, Virginia to see what the ship looks like and what it might
 look like in the future.
 The USS Gerald Ford replaces what the Navy called its Nimitz-class aircraft carriers,
 a fleet of ten nuclear warships designed in the late 1960s and commissioned in May 1975.
 The Nimitz-class is still in operation, but in 1996 Navy officials knew they'd need a
 new ship for the 21st century.
 The Navy wanted to house at least 75 aircraft on the new ship's deck and it wanted a better
 nuclear energy system.
 As designs progressed, those requests became more precise and more numerous.
 Newport News Shipbuilding Company worked to turn those requests into reality.
 First, the company decided the Ford would use electricity for power instead of steam.
 In the Nimitz-class carrier you had a lot of service steam.
 Whether it went to the laundry, the galley, a lot of areas of the ship.
 So here we replaced all that with electrical powered systems.
 So there's less maintenance to do.
 Those steam pipes corrode, you have to go do maintenance on the valves and flush them,
 you know, cut them out, replace them, overhauls.
 Here you won't have to do any of that.
 The cable is designed to last the life of the ship, very low maintenance.
 That would allow for a host of new innovations.
 Four of those new innovations stand out.
 The first is something called flexible infrastructure architecture.
 This is a modular design concept, so if the Navy wants to convert a room from being a
 storage space into a boardroom, for example, it can do that without having to hire big
 crews to take care of the work.
 Another innovation is advanced weapons elevators.
 Relying on electromagnetic fields instead of cables, these massive elevators can carry
 twice as much material than their predecessors.
 So we have one less aircraft elevator than Nimitz-class.
 This has three as opposed to the four.
 All that was part of the design to enhance flight deck usage.
 So that's a key aspect, right?
 That's what the carrier does.
 A third major change is the use of an electromagnetic aircraft launch system.
 Known as EMALS, these use an electromagnetic field to catapult aircraft into the sky.
 Previous versions of these launchers used steam and cables.
 Compared with their predecessors, EMALS are lighter, smaller, more efficient, and more
 reliable.
 They can also launch a fighter jet every 45 seconds.
 And then there's the multifunction radar.
 Known as a dual-band radar, these combine the tools used for big picture scans as well
 as precision targeting.
 In the past, those activities were completely separate.
 Now those two pieces are the same.
 This means fewer radar antennas are spinning and fewer people are required to keep tabs
 on the ship's surroundings.
 This is a design that has not been battle tested.
 That's a risk.
 This is a boat that's supposed to remain on the water for 50 years.
 And it's a design that's supposed to last for 80.
 But engineers are confident that it will.
 Having greater electrical power capacity, you can bring on new technologies for the
 life of the ship.
 It'll have enough air conditioning and ventilation and electrical power so that no matter how
 the technology changes going forward, which we may not even know today, we'll be able
 to upgrade, swap out, and bring on that new technology without having to change the infrastructure
 of the ship.
 Are innovations like these worth $13 billion, which is the amount of money taxpayers are
 expected to spend on the Ford before it's complete?
 A report from the Government Accountability Office in September said maybe not.
 The report called the project high risk, even though Newport News Shipbuilding says the
 warship is structurally 100 percent complete already.
 Only time will tell if that concern is warranted.
 In the meantime, the people overseeing the ship's progress are confident it'll carry
 the U.S. Navy well into the 21st century.
 We're going to bring all the shipbuilder expertise to put this great ship together, and then
 we work in conjunction with the crew, with ships for us, to start turning it over to
 them little by little.
 And we get to know them personally and see them take ownership of the ship and take it
 and drive it.
 So that's the thing I'll remember.