USS Gerald R. Ford arrives at Norfolk Naval Shipyard on July 7, 2026, to begin Planned Incremental Availability maintenance. (Shelby West/Norfolk Naval Shipyard)
Aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford moved to Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va., on Tuesday for its first maintenance break since a record 326-day deployment that ended in May.
The first of a new carrier class, Ford was launched in 2013 and commissioned in 2017. It had prior maintenance in Virginia at HII Newport News Shipbuilding in 2021. The Planned Incremental Availability maintenance will be the ship’s first at a Navy shipyard.
“A PIA is a scheduled period for an aircraft carrier to undergo extensive maintenance, repairs and modernization to meet future operational demands, spanning a wide array of overhauls and inspections,” the Navy said in a statement. “Additionally, a concurrent availability will be conducted to restore spaces damaged during a fire aboard the then-deployed carrier in March 2026.”
At the time of the fire, Ford was in the Eastern Mediterranean as part of the U.S. forces attacking Iran during Operation Epic Fury. Preliminary work on the damage was done at facilities in Croatia.
PIA maintenance normally takes several months. USS Dwight D. Eisenhower underwent PIA work at Norfolk in January 2026 after a combat deployment and returned to the fleet in April.
The Navy said Wednesday that a team from Norfolk Naval Shipyard had started a “continuum” of work on the carrier while it was still at Norfolk Naval Station.
Advance work included “early testing, preparations for temporary service installation, and jet blast deflector overhaul,” the Navy statement said.
Project Superintendent George “BJ” Baker said the continuum allows for work before and after the window of opportunity (WOO) before and after Ford’s allocated time in the shipyard.
“Capitalizing on these WOO periods is the single most important key to returning carriers to their strict maintenance timelines,” Baker said.
The Navy’s four shipyards have been criticized by Congress and defense experts for backlogs on maintenance schedules.
Ford’s arrival at Norfolk follows the early PIA completions for Nimitz-class aircraft carriers Eisenhower in April and USS George H.W. Bush in November 2024, the Navy said.
“USS Gerald R. Ford is positioned to become the third consecutive early finish of an aircraft carrier availability at ‘America’s Shipyard,’” said Rear Adm. Kavon Hakimzadeh, Norfolk Naval Shipyard’s commanding officer.
Ford deployed from June 2025 to May 2026, steaming across the Atlantic four times as it moved from Norfolk to exercises in the North Sea before it was ordered to the Caribbean to take part in the Jan. 3 capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The carrier then moved to the eastern Mediterranean to launch attacks on February 28 against Iran. It returned to Norfolk on May 16.
Ford is the lead ship in the first newly designed aircraft carrier class in more than 40 years, beginning the phased replacement of Nimitz-class carriers that will stretch past 2050.
The 100,000-ton carrier is the first of 10 planned ships of the class to be built. The Ford class incorporates many advancements over the Nimitz class, including electromagnetic-powered aircraft catapults and elevators.
USS John F. Kennedy, the second Ford-class carrier, is scheduled to be commissioned in March 2017. Two other carriers, USS Enterprise and USS Doris Miller are under construction at HII Newport News Shipbuilding, with projected launching dates in 2031 and 2034. Two additional Ford-class carriers, USS William J. Clinton and USS George W. Bush, were announced in January 2025.
