Forrestal vs Gerald R. Ford

Sixty-two years separate USS Forrestal's October 1955 commissioning from USS Gerald R. Ford's in July 2017, yet the later ship descends directly from the earlier one. Forrestal introduced the hull-integrated strength deck that every American supercarrier since has used. Ford sits on a Nimitz-derived hull roughly 19,600 tons heavier and costs about $13 billion. Forrestal was built for under $200 million in then-year dollars.

Development and Design

Forrestal was designed to fly heavy nuclear-capable jets such as the A-3 Skywarrior after the 1949 cancellation of USS United States. The angled deck was adopted mid-construction, which left the port elevator in the recovery path. The Kitty Hawk class corrected that flaw. Ford's changes target sortie generation rather than aircraft size:

• The island is moved aft, and the ship has three elevators instead of four.
• The design aims for 160 sorties per day sustained and 270 surge, against 120 and 240 for a Nimitz.
• Ship's company is about 700 below Nimitz levels.

Weapons and Sensors

Both ships fight through their air wings. Forrestal's eight 5-inch guns were mounted in spray-prone sponsons and were progressively removed. In later service it carried Sea Sparrow, Phalanx and SPS-48/49 radars. Ford layers ESSM, RAM and Phalanx. CVN-78 carries the Dual Band Radar, while CVN-79 onward carries SPY-6(V)3 EASR. Ford's air wing of F-35C, F/A-18E/F and EA-18G, with the MQ-25 tanker to follow, outranges and out-senses anything Forrestal flew. Neither class carries sonar or torpedoes.

Propulsion and Performance

Forrestal's eight boilers and 280,000 shp gave 34 knots, about 4 knots more than Ford's published figure. That speed cost range: the ship needed oilers every few days. Ford's two A1B reactors give effectively unlimited range and roughly triple Nimitz electrical generation. That power margin supports EMALS, the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) and future directed-energy weapons. The new technology carried a price. DOT&E reported EMALS and AAG reliability far below requirement, and the advanced weapons elevators were not certified until 2021. Together these delayed Ford's first full deployment by about six years after commissioning.

Deployment and Combat Record

The Forrestal class fought for four decades:

• Vietnam: Ranger made repeated Yankee Station deployments. Saratoga flew Linebacker strikes in 1972. Forrestal's July 1967 fire killed 134 men and reshaped Navy damage-control doctrine.
• 1980s: Independence supported Grenada and Lebanon in 1983. Saratoga's F-14s intercepted the Achille Lauro hijackers in 1985, and the ship struck Libya in 1986.
• Desert Storm: Saratoga and Ranger launched strikes in 1991.

Ford's record is shorter but operationally relevant. Its 2023–24 deployment was extended to about eight months in the Eastern Mediterranean after 7 October 2023. In late 2025 the ship was redirected to the Caribbean for operations against Venezuela.

Conclusion

Ford holds the edge in every high-end scenario. It has unlimited propulsion endurance, a higher designed sortie rate, layered missile defence, AESA radar and the electrical margin to operate unmanned aircraft. Forrestal had two real advantages. Its mature steam catapults gave it reliability Ford's lead ship lacked for years. Its cost allowed four hulls for a fraction of one Ford's price, so it held the edge in numbers and availability. That advantage is the substance of today's case for smaller carriers. Against a peer adversary, Ford's capability outweighs the reduced number of hulls the Navy can afford.