Keel laid for new carrier Kennedy - 13newsnow.com
NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WVEC) -- The keel was laid for the new aircraft carrier Kennedy at Newport News Shipbuilding Saturday. The ship's sponsor, Caroline Kennedy, daughter of the late president, who currently serves as U. S. Ambassador to Japan, participated via video link. Joseph Kennedy,III( (D-Massachusetts), who is the grandson of Bobby Kennedy. Caroline Kennedy's initials were welded onto a steel plate that will be permanently affixed to the ship. The first carrier, nicknamed Big John, was the last conventionally powered aircraft carrier. The new John F. Kennedy 's first steel was cut in December 2010. Since then, more than 450 of the ship's 1,100 structural units have been built, shipyard officials said. "I think that news is really hard to accept from a worker's perspective," said machinist apprentice Sarah Ramsey, who adds that periodic work force adjustments are part of the ebb and flow of shipyard life. "I understand that this is a business that we run here and there are certain times when certain cuts have to be made for the business," she said. "Pretty much everybody's trying to keep going a the pace they've been going, you know, trying not to focus in that issue, focus on the job at hand," he said. One particular area of concentration will be to learn from the mistakes of the first ship of the Ford. Source: www.13newsnow.com
