Most expensive supercarrier

The USS Gerald R Ford, the first aircraft carrier of the new Ford class (and currently the largest type of nuclear-powered carrier under construction), was formally named in a ceremony at the Newport News Shipbuilding facility in Norfolk, Virginia, USA, on 9 November 2013. Scheduled for operational service in 2016, the 1,092-foot-long carrier will host the most powerful force package anywhere in the world. Equipped with a new type of catapult, the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) enabling it to launch up to 220 airstrikes a day from its two runways, and an airwing of 75 fighter and strike aircraft (including the F-35 Lightning II as well as various support aircraft), it will have 500 fewer crew and save US $4 billion over its lifetime compared to a Nimitz-class carrier. At a cost of US $13 billion (£8.1 billion; €9.7 billion), it is the most expensive carrier ever constructed.