Navy conducts preliminary acceptance for future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79)

The U.S. Navy has taken preliminary acceptance of its next aircraft carrier, the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79), from HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding, allowing the ship and crew to begin at-sea testing ahead of formal delivery planned for spring 2027.

The move follows acceptance trials completed in August and marks a transition from pier-side work to underway training and proficiency-building while the shipbuilder finishes final systems testing. According to the Navy, the ship is about 99 percent complete, with all major systems installed, and ongoing work includes testing of the remaining four Advanced Weapons Elevators.

Preliminary acceptance is a contractual and programmatic milestone that gives the Navy custody to operate the ship at sea before delivery, a step the service says places CVN 79 on the fastest path to combat readiness.

John F. Kennedy is the second carrier in the Gerald R. Ford class, built by Newport News Shipbuilding, the Navy’s sole designer and builder of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. The class introduces a series of new technologies intended to improve reliability, reduce crew workload and increase sortie-generation rates compared with Nimitz-class carriers.

The Navy also highlighted its centralized approach to surface ship acquisition under the Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Maritime, an organizational construct intended to speed the delivery of combat capability by consolidating accountability and authority for ship programs.