The U.S. Naval Institute website reported on July 7 that due to the delay in the delivery of the USS John F. Kennedy, the number of active aircraft carriers in the U.S. Navy will be reduced to 10 in the next year or so.
The report said that the delivery of the second Ford-class aircraft carrier, the USS Kennedy, will face a two-year delay. According to the latest disclosed U.S. Navy’s fiscal year 2026 budget justification document, the USS Kennedy will not be delivered until March 2027, while according to last year’s budget proposal, the aircraft carrier was originally supposed to be delivered this month.
The latest US Navy’s 2026 fiscal year shipbuilding budget proposal reads: “The delivery date of the USS Kennedy has been postponed from July 2025 to March 2027 to support the completion of the certification of the advanced arresting gear and to continue the installation of the advanced weapon elevator.”
The report said that the USS Nimitz, which has been in service with the US Navy for 50 years, is scheduled to be retired in May next year, which means that in the nearly one year before the delivery of the USS Kennedy, the number of active aircraft carriers in the US Navy will be reduced from 11 to 10.
The report also stated that the USS Kennedy had been delayed several times during the construction process. As early as 2023, the delivery date of the aircraft carrier was postponed from June 2024 to 2025. The latest budget proposal also shows that the delivery of the third Ford-class aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise, will also face a one-year delay, and is scheduled to be delivered in July 2030.
