USN’s Third and Fourth Ford Supercarriers Face Further Construction Delays

aircraft carrier construction — Mid-body for Enterprise was repositioned in late 2024 to permit Doris Miller to also start assembly (HII)

In a now all-too-common occurrence, the United States Navy is reportedly expecting further delays in the construction and delivery of the third and fourth carriers in the Ford class. USNI News broke the details, reporting that the Navy’s Fiscal Year 2027 budget presentation includes the schedule delays.

The third carrier of the class, named Enterprise, is now reportedly facing an additional eight-month delay, reports USNI News. Enterprise had been scheduled for delivery in March 2028 but had already seen its target date slipping. It had been moved to July 2030, and now the budget reflects the target date as March 2031.

Despite the delay, USNI writes that Enterprise would be completed in just 12 years. It points out that the second ship of the class, the carrier John F. Kennedy, will have taken about 16 years to build. Now, however, the fourth ship, the carrier Doris Miller, is likely to take 15 years, reports USNI.

Delivery of Doris Miller had been scheduled for February 2032. The new budget moves the date to February 2034, a full two-year delay.

Currently, the U.S. only has one shipyard, HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding, that builds the nuclear carriers. In late 2024, the yard had highlighted that it was gearing up to have two of the carriers in assembly at the same time. The yard completed renovations to its dry dock and then repositioned the early-stage assembly for the hull of Enterprise. They highlighted for the first time that two supercarriers would be assembled in the same dry dock at the same time.

Now, according to USNI, the yard is still preparing for the keel laying of Doris Miller. The Navy reportedly cites as an explanation “construction footprint constraints,” which USNI says are limiting the ability to build modules for CVN-81, the future Doris Miller.

In a statement to the outlet, Newport News Shipbuilding reportedly highlighted that the components for the fourth carrier continue steel fabrication and outfitting. However, they told USNI that a cascading series of delays and supply chain issues are impacting the carriers. Delays with Enterprise due to the supply chain reportedly have spilled over to Doris Miller.

All the carriers in the Ford class have faced construction delays of varying lengths. Last year, the delivery of John F. Kennedy was pushed back from August 2025 to March 2027 so that additional modifications could be completed. The carrier has now completed its first sea trials and continues to move forward on schedule.

However, the delay for CNV-79 has placed pressure on the U.S. Navy, which is mandated by the U.S. Congress to maintain an 11-ship carrier fleet. The Navy had highlighted with fanfare that USS Nimitz was completing her final deployment and heading into retirement. Nimitz, however, was given a last-minute reprieve and will continue in active status until Kennedy is ready. Nimitz is currently circumnavigating South America before taking up her final homeport in Norfolk, Virginia.

At the same time, USS Gerald R. Ford is reportedly on her way home after what will be an 11-month deployment. The carrier is anticipated to go into an extended maintenance period that could last for a year or more after the record-setting deployment.