The construction and delivery of the U.S. Navy’s third and fourth Ford-class aircraft carriers, being built by Newport News Shipbuilding, is expected to face further delays, a situation that has become increasingly common for the U.S. Navy.
According to USNI News, the delivery of the USS Enterprise, the U.S. Navy’s third Ford-class aircraft carrier, has been delayed by another eight months. The vessel was originally scheduled for delivery in March 2028 but had already been delayed multiple times, with the latest delivery date set for July 2030.
The delivery date for the USS Enterprise has been postponed once again to March 2031; the related delay plan has been incorporated into the U.S. Navy’s fiscal year 2027 budget, and its construction cost has exceeded $14.2 billion.
Despite significant delays in the project, the USS Enterprise is reportedly still on track to be completed in just 12 years. The construction period for the U.S. Navy’s second Ford-class aircraft carrier, the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), was approximately 16 years, with a current construction cost of about $13.2 billion; the construction period for the fourth ship, the USS Doris Miller (CVN-81), is expected to be shortened to 15 years, with an estimated construction cost ranging from $12.4 billion to $14 billion.
The USS Doris Miller was originally scheduled for delivery in February 2032, but the latest budget has pushed the delivery date back to February 2034—a delay of two full years.
Currently, there is only one shipyard in the United States capable of building nuclear-powered aircraft carriers: Newport News Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of HII, the country’s largest defense shipbuilding group. In late 2024, the shipyard emphasized that it was actively preparing to build two aircraft carriers simultaneously. Following the completion of dry dock renovation work, it immediately resumed early hull assembly of the USS Enterprise in that dry dock, noting that this marked the first time the shipyard had conducted the final assembly of two supercarriers in parallel within the same dry dock.
Newport News Shipbuilding has publicly stated that the fourth Ford-class aircraft carrier, the USS Doris Miller, is still undergoing steel fabrication and outfitting work. The shipyard noted that a series of delays and supply chain issues are affecting the aircraft carrier program, and that delays on the USS Enterprise caused by supply chain issues have already impacted the USS Doris Miller. The U.S. Navy considers “limited shipyard capacity” to be one of the primary reasons for the construction delays in this aircraft carrier program.
Currently, all Ford-class aircraft carriers under construction for the U.S. Navy are facing construction delays to varying degrees. The delivery of the USS John F. Kennedy has been postponed from August 2025 to March 2027 to allow for additional modifications. The carrier has now completed its first sea trials and is proceeding according to schedule.
Based on the U.S. Navy’s FY 2027 budget mentioned earlier, the U.S. Navy is requesting that Congress allocate $65.8 billion for naval shipbuilding in FY 2027. For FY 2027, the U.S. Navy is requesting funding to procure 34 ships and five unmanned platforms.
The U.S. Navy’s defense shipbuilding program for fiscal years 2027–2031 includes: 5 Columbia-class ballistic missile submarines, 10 Virginia-class attack submarines, 7 Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, 4 frigates, 2 amphibious assault ships, 5 amphibious dock landing ships, 23 medium landing ships, 7 fleet replenishment ships, 5 ocean surveillance ships, and a new class of nuclear-powered battleships (BBGN). At the same time, the U.S. Navy plans to move up the procurement of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier CVN-82 from fiscal year 2030 to fiscal year 2029.