Keel laying ceremony held for Ford carrier

NEWPORT NEWS, Va., Nov. 16 (UPI) -- Northrop Grumman recently conducted a keel-laying ceremony for the U.S. Navy's new Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) aircraft carrier.

U.S. company Northrop Grumman's Shipbuilding unit is under contract to construct the first ship of the new Gerald R. Ford class of nuclear-powered aircraft carrier ship platforms. The company hosted the keel-laying ceremony in Newport News, Va.

The Navy's next-generation aircraft carriers are designed with improvements to the flight deck, weapons handling systems and electrical power generation capacity among other advances.

"Not so long ago, Gerald R. Ford was the sturdy beam who held our nation together -- the beam on which so much else depended," Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said in a statement.

"This ship will bear the name of a man who assumed our nation's highest office at a time of great anguish and confusion, a time of great distress and doubt ... at a time of great danger, Gerry Ford took the helm. At a time of instability, Gerry Ford kept our country on an even keel."