NEWPORT NEWS, Va., March 1 (UPI) -- Northrop Grumman's Virginia shipyard has cut first steel for the CVN 79, the second ship in the U.S. Navy's Gerald R. Ford class of aircraft carrier.
"While the carriers are recognized as a national asset, so too is this shipyard and the shipbuilders that are in this yard," Navy Rear Adm. Michael McMahon, program executive office for Aircraft Carriers, said at a ceremony in Newport News, Va.