Where Are American Aircraft Carriers Built And Who Builds Them?

There are few things that have changed naval tactics and logistics quite like the advent and ubiquity of the aircraft carrier. With more aircraft carriers in service than any other country, the United States Navy has made them the centerpiece of its tactical operations on the oceans for many years. With the U.S. dealing in a higher volume of carriers than every other country, it's important to know who the world's leader in aircraft carriers trusts to build them at this high volume and quality, as well as where they do it.

Less than a decade after the Wright Brothers flew the first airplane, the U.S. Navy recognized the power of being able to deploy aerial assets from any place on the sea. In 1911, private citizen Eugene Burton Ely made the first successful landing and take-off from a naval vessel, according to the National Air and Space Museum. With that new feat in aerial skill, a new era in the U.S. Navy was born. While battleships remained the top dogs for many years, the infamous Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1940 sidelined much of the United States' Pacific fleet, but its aircraft carriers were largely spared. That not only helped the country keep the Japanese from controlling the Pacific and ultimately allowed for the Allies to claim victory, but it showed the world the strategic power of the aircraft carrier.

Since then, the United States has invested billions of dollars into these ships. The most recent design — The Gerald Ford model — runs roughly $13 billion. Who gets this money, and where do these military designs go from an idea to a reality?

For decades, the private company HII Corporate — formerly known as Huntington Ingalls Industries before its rebranding in 2011 — has been the sole designer, builder, and refueler of U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.

While 2011 is relatively young in the history of aircraft carriers, that's just when the company merged two legacy shipyards (Newport News Shipbuilding, and Drydock Company and Ingalls Shipbuilding) into what is now the nation's largest shipbuilder. Between those two shipyards' legacies, the company boasts a more than 135-year history of "advancing U.S. national security" with a workforce of more than 44,000 people.

According to its website, HII has spent the past 75 years building more than 30 aircraft carriers, including the world's first nuclear-powered one in the Enterprise (CVN 65). Most recently, HII delivered the first Gerald R. Ford-class ship to the U.S. Navy in 2017. However, it's worth noting that while HII is the sole designer and builder of this new class of carrier, The New Republic reports its supply chain stretches across 2,450 companies in 48 states, spanning 13,100 employees — so it's a real group effort.

Despite these massive ships being so involved and having so many strategic purposes for the U.S. Navy, it may surprise people to learn that they're built in one place and one place only (at least in the United States) — Newport News, Virginia. Specifically, HII's Newport News Virginia Shipbuilding yard, which was founded in 1886. The New Republic reports that 25,000 of the company's 44,000 employees are based out of Newport News, with the current main focus being on designing and manufacturing Gerald R. Ford class aircraft carriers for the United States Navy. While it is not the only U.S. Navy shipyard of its kind in the country, it's certainly the only one building aircraft carriers that will eventually act as the backbone of the Navy's efforts abroad.

President Joe Biden's 2024 Pentagon budget asked for roughly $842 billion with $2.7 billion going toward the second, third, and fourth Ford class supercarriers, which likely means the workers at Newport News will have their hands full for the foreseeable future.

In fact, a 2022 report from USNI News reported that, with the current work happening on the U.S. Navy's Gerald R. Ford class ships, as well as the former USS Enterprise awaiting proper disposal, there were roughly six nuclear carriers at various stages of their lifecycle in the Newport News Shipbuilding yard, the most it's had in roughly three decades.