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[ Gym space aboard CVN 78 | Photo by MC1 Joshua J. Wahl, US Navy ]

While the USS Gerald R. Ford offers the latest in technology, the US Navy has also upgraded crew comforts throughout the ship to enhance living and working experiences for its sailors. With CVN 78 expected to serve for the next 50 years, its crew will daily recognize the great lengths the US Navy and Huntington Ingalls Industry has gone to increase crew comfort over the life of the ship.

CVN 78, the first ship of the new Ford Class of US aircraft carriers, has received numerous updates from previously class Naval ships. From a technological point of view, its has been constructed with two newly-design reactors that produces 250% more electrical capacity than previous carriers. The ship’s launch Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) uses electromagnets as part of the new system to increase flight deployments from the ship. Externally, CVN 78’s flight deck is 8,000 square feet larger than a Nimtz-class carrier, allowing space for 8 extra F/A 18E/F Super Hornets.

The crew meanwhile will also notice not only the improvements while on duty but also off. The ship provides 6,800 square feet of gym space for the crew to utilize on long deployments. The mess decks have been built with wider passageways and increased focus on providing healthier food choices (deep fat fryers were removed from the mess deck). Berthing areas were reconstructed to decrease the number of racks to about 40 per berthing to help with noise and foot traffic. Work spaces have been upgraded with air conditioning or are cooler, while 19 do-it-yourself bays were added with options to be transformed into offices, ready rooms, humanitarian staging areas and more.

To read more from the Navy Times, please: visit http://www.navytimes.com/story/military/2015/10/01/new-carrier-ford-adds-more-crew-comforts/73098426/

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