Huntington Ingalls Industries is building the ship using modular construction which means sections of the ship are welded together to create larger units.
The flight deck is part of the upper bow which weighs 787 tons and is 1,106 feet long, the equivalent of a 75 story building.
The aircraft carrier has been under construction since 2009 and is now 96 percent structurally complete.
The USS Gerald R. Ford will feature “a new nuclear power plant, a redesigned island, electromagnetic catapults, improved weapons movement, an enhanced flight deck, growth margin for future technologies and $4 billion reduced total ownership cost compared to a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier.”
The ship is supposed to launch later this year.