Newly accepted by the Navy on a preliminary basis, the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) pulled away from Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia on Sept. 29, 2026, bound for Naval Station Norfolk. The move followed the Navy’s preliminary acceptance of the carrier from its builder that same day, which her builder calls the final step before formal delivery.
Kennedy is the second Gerald R. Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. Preliminary acceptance is a step short of delivery: it lets the ship’s crew take her to sea for testing and training while the shipyard finishes the remaining work aboard.
HII, the shipyard’s parent company, announced the milestone in a Sept. 29 release, describing it as the final step before formal delivery and noting that the carrier completed acceptance trials in August. The release states that Kennedy departed the yard on Sept. 29 and will transition to Naval Station Norfolk. “It is an honor to see Kennedy depart and begin integration into the fleet,” said Bryan Caccavale, Newport News Shipbuilding’s vice president of program management.
What preliminary acceptance means for CVN 79
The Navy’s own account came from the Portfolio Acquisition Executive for Maritime, the office now responsible for delivering the service’s surface ships. Its Sept. 29 release, published by Seapower magazine, says preliminary acceptance “will allow the ship and its crew to conduct at-sea testing and build underway proficiency while the shipbuilder completes final ship systems testing prior to formal delivery of the ship in Spring 2027.”
“Achieving preliminary acceptance marks a new phase for the ship and her crew, allowing them to get more water under the keel as they test and train underway.” — Capt. Mark Johnson, the Navy’s Program Manager for Gerald R. Ford-Class New Construction
The same release puts the ship at “approximately 99 percent complete” and states that “all major systems are complete.” It frames the arrangement as a way to get the carrier into service sooner, saying preliminary acceptance “allows CVN 79 to be delivered to the U.S. Navy on the fastest path possible to achieve combat readiness.”
Four Advanced Weapons Elevators still in test
The work left to do is concentrated in one system. According to the Navy release, the shipbuilder “is currently completing final ship systems testing, including testing of the remaining four Advanced Weapons Elevators.”
USNI News, reporting Sept. 29, gives the fuller picture. Kennedy “completed acceptance sea trials in August with seven out of 11 Advanced Weapons Elevators having been delivered,” the outlet reported, and “completing the AWE and the Advanced Arresting Gear were the two major barriers to delivery.” USNI News also reported that the carrier “is scheduled to deliver to the service in March, according to the Navy’s 2027 budget documents,” which matches the Navy’s own Spring 2027 target.
A delivery date that moved from 2025 to 2027
Kennedy was originally due earlier. In July 2025, USNI News reported that the Navy’s fiscal 2026 budget documents had moved the carrier’s delivery, stating: “The CVN 79 delivery date shifted from July 2025 to March 2027 (preliminary acceptance TBD) to support completion of Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) certification and continued Advanced Weapons Elevator (AWE) work.” The preliminary acceptance date left open in those documents is now fixed at Sept. 29, 2026.
The sea trials that cleared the way ended in August. HII announced on Aug. 15 that Newport News Shipbuilding had completed acceptance sea trials, with preliminary acceptance and Navy underway testing to follow. “It is an honor to take Kennedy to sea to demonstrate the quality work and commitment by our shipbuilders,” said Derek Murphy, the yard’s vice president of new construction aircraft carrier programs.
Kennedy now heads into Navy-run testing at sea while the yard finishes the last four weapons elevators, with formal delivery set for spring 2027, which the Navy’s 2027 budget documents place in March.
Top image: Pre-Commissioning Unit John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) during builder’s sea trials, Jan. 28, 2026. Image Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Kaitlin Young — Public domain / Wikimedia Commons
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Combat Rated editors prior to publication.