Like Taking Candy From A Baby

[JayhawkSD]

2. Gerald R. Ford.

"Not only will the Navy carrier be incomplete at launch date, but completing construction will cost upwards of $998 million dollars."

That is entirely routine with ships of any kind. The incomplete portion, at just under 8%, is actually lower than I would expect it to be. Normally the completion after launce is closer to 10%.

Ships are launched when the hull is complete, along with the completion of work requiring massive overhead cranes. Keeping them in the ways for finishing work would be wasteful, and they are launched and moved to another portion of the yard for completion so that construction of another new ship can be begun with the laying of a keel. The final construction after launch can take up to a year or more, depending on the type of ship. This process is the same for warships, cargo ships, and passenger liners.

I have watched ships launched at NASSCO, here in San Diego, and some of them look like nothing more than hulks.