Support the channel with SUPER THANKS in the comments below or by becoming a Patron at   / wardcarroll  

Pre-order the PUNK'S TRILOGY at the following links:

WAR: https://www.usni.org/press/books/punk...
WING: https://www.usni.org/press/books/punk...
FIGHT: https://www.usni.org/press/books/punk...

Get official channel "flight gear" at https://my-store-b7f9c9.creator-sprin...

The U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) was brought into the public eye by President Donald J. Trump in 2017 after he visited the ship in Newport News, Virginia. During that visit a member of the crew mentioned that the EMALS system - the electromagnetic catapults - wasn't working and he wished they'd go back to the steam technology used on the Nimitz class carriers.

President Trump seized on that narrative and repeated it in myriad forms over the following months. During a visit to the U.S.S. Wasp, an amphibious ship based in Japan (not an aircraft carrier), he informally polled the crew during a speech in the hangar bay and told the skipper he was going to order the Navy to build follow-on carriers using steam instead of linear impulse (digital) tech.

Several months later, during Thanksgiving phone calls to the troops based around the globe, President Trump asked Captain Pat Hannifan, the CO of the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan, whether he preferred steam or digital cats. Hannifan said digital because of the burden of "chasing steam around the ship." The President said he liked that answer, and that seemed to be the end of his concern.

But the public controversy remains, and not just because of what President Trump sent into motion using the Bully Pulpit (and Twitter). The problems with the FORD are real and documented.

But will the effort ultimately be worth it?

In this episode Ward focused on 4 of the FORD's new technologies -- EMALS, AAG, the new island, and the new reactors -- and assesses the degree to which they're "game changers."