The U.S. Navy nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), the largest warship in the world, returned home to Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia after successful builder's trials where she was taken out to sea for the first time.

The 100,000 ton carrier equipped with technologies found on no other carrier saw shipbuilders from Huntington Ingalls test the basic functions of CVN-78. These tests included powering-up the carrier's nuclear power plant; tracking aircraft with its new and improved radar and dry-firing the new catapults of the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) designed to give aircraft a smoother launch.

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The Ford carrier is the first of its class and the first totally new aircraft carrier design in four decades. Apart from the Gerald R. Ford, the other two carriers in the class are the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) and the USS Enterprise (CVN-80). Both these ships are building.

USS Gerald R. Ford is equipped with a nuclear power plant three times more powerful than those aboard the 11 Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. The Ford's tremendous power reserve will allow it to be armed with future weapons like directed-energy lasers and electromagnetic railguns.

The US Navy said it expects delivery of the Ford by spring and hopes to commission the warship this summer.

Her commissioning will give the Navy 11 operational nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, the largest number of carriers in active service with any country. CVN-78 will also be the most technologically advanced aircraft carrier in the world.

It will be the first carrier to deploy unmanned aerial systems (UAS) for reconnaissance and attack as a standard complement.

The Ford will be the first to deploy new technologies such EMALS to launch its aircraft and the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) to recover them. Her AN/SPY-3 active electronically scanned array multi-function radar is effective in both blue water and littoral operations.