Building Integrity, Building Ford Documentary

Tuesday, November 13, 2018
6:30 PM 7:30 PM

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The Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum hosted a capacity crowd on November 13, 2018 as Newport News Shipbuilding presented their documentary, Building Integrity, Building Ford, which highlights the design, development, construction, and eventual deployment of the U.S Navy’s newest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). The documentary took the audience through all the critical phases in the construction of the ship by concentrating on the men and women who spent years building her and then watched her enter the U.S. Navy as its biggest and brightest star during its commissioning ceremony on July 22nd 2017, and then out to sea for the first of its many tests and trials.

Following the documentary, a paneled Q&A session was held by Gerald R. Ford Ship Sponsor, Susan Ford Bales, along with Newport News Shipbuilding Lucas Hicks, Vice President, John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) Aircraft Carrier Construction and Geoff Hummel, Construction Director, John F. Kennedy (CVN 79). The three panelists answered many questions from the audience about the new Class of Ford aircraft carriers, their new technologies and capabilities and what it was like to see the ship go from concept to reality.

Geoff Hummel and Lucas Hicks also spoke with students about the construction of the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier with students at West Michigan Aviation Academy High School in Grand Rapids, MI.