The US Navy's new Ford-class carrier — and what naval-gazers should actually buy

USS Enterprise (CVN-80) is scheduled to join the fleet in 2025 as the second Ford-class supercarrier. The US Navy already runs the largest naval force on the planet by displacement. The story most outlets miss isn't the size — it's how much of the Navy's spending now goes to systems most civilians never see.

What the Ford class actually changes

EMALS — the electromagnetic catapult that replaced steam — is the big technical bet. Cheaper to maintain over a 50-year hull life, gentler on airframes, and capable of launching everything from a lightweight drone to a fully-loaded F/A-18. The Ford-class also gets dual-band radar and an Advanced Arresting Gear that, when it works, lets the carrier handle a wider weight range of recovery loads.

Whether it's worth $13B per hull is a separate debate. The Gerald R. Ford herself was delayed and bug-ridden for years after commissioning. Enterprise is being built with those lessons in mind, theoretically. We'll see in 2026 when she actually starts working up for deployment.

The actual fleet picture

290 combat vessels. 11 carrier strike groups. A submarine force that includes 14 Ohio-class boomers carrying about half of the US strategic nuclear deterrent. The proposed FY2025 budget runs around $220B for the Department of the Navy. That includes everything from carrier construction to recruiting bonuses for sailors who keep walking out the door faster than the recruiters can replace them.

The recruitment shortfall is the unglamorous story Navy leadership talks about more than carriers do. Sustaining the current force structure requires hitting recruiting targets that have been missed three years in a row. No amount of new hardware fixes that.

For the naval history reader

If you actually care about the Navy as a subject, the books are where to spend money. Two recommendations.

"Six Frigates" by Ian W. Toll — the origin story of the early US Navy and the political fight over whether to have one at all. Reads like a thriller. Toll's Pacific War trilogy is the follow-up if this hooks you.

"Neptune: The Allied Invasion of Europe and the D-Day Landings" by Craig Symonds. The naval side of D-Day. Most D-Day books focus on the beaches; this one focuses on the 7,000 ships that put them there.

Models and display pieces

If you're going to display a single Navy ship at home, the USS Enterprise (any of them — CV-6, CVN-65, or the new CVN-80) is the meaningful one. The 1942-1947 Enterprise is the most decorated US ship in history.

An 1/350 scale model of the USS Enterprise from Tamiya or Trumpeter is the serious modeler's pick. About £80-150 for the kit, another £40-80 for paints and tools if you're starting from scratch.

For something simpler, a Metal Earth USS Enterprise laser-cut model at £20 does the job for a shelf without the full hobby commitment.

For the documentary watcher

"The Last Ship" and Tom Clancy's older adaptations are mostly fiction. The real stuff to watch is the PBS American Experience series on D-Day and the Pacific, and the Smithsonian Channel's submarine-warfare documentaries.

Stream on whatever you have. An Apple TV 4K or any streaming box handles the platforms. The audio matters more than the picture for documentary; a decent soundbar with subwoofer turns archival footage from "tinny" to actually compelling.

The honest part

The US Navy is huge, expensive, and not as ready as the headline numbers suggest. The Ford-class carriers are the focus of attention partly because they're the most visible spending. The harder questions — submarine production rates, surface fleet readiness rates, the recruitment crisis — get less ink.

Enterprise will commission. The Navy will keep being the world's largest. The interesting story is whether the rest of the fleet ages out faster than the new builds replace them. Right now, the math is tight.