USS John F Kennedy departing for a period of time at sea undergoing builder’s trials. Displacing around 100,000 tonnes, the USS John F Kennedy is the second of a planned ten-strong fleet of Ford-class supercarriers, which will gradually replace the in-service Nimitz-class carriers over the coming decades. For USS John F Kennedy, the build time has been a complex undertaking, in keeping with the demands of building the largest vessels in any of the world’s navies. The island of the aircraft carrier USS John F Kennedy is landed onto the flight deck during a mast-stepping ceremony at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding in 2019. Credit: US NavyIt is thought USS John F Kennedy will be handed over to the US Navy in 2027 for commissioning, joining the first-in-class USS Gerald R Ford in service. This change, first mooted in 2025, was theorised to include USS John F Kennedy and future sister ships, leaving USS Gerald R Ford as the sole EMALS carrier in US Navy service.