(Washington, DC) After much deliberation, debate and careful planning, the Navy’s first-in-class USS Ford is finally headed out to sea for the ultimate test of its combat capability … shock trials.
Just how well will it hold up against heavy precision weaponry attacking it from long ranges or survive the disruptions caused by bombs, torpedoes, incoming gunfire, anti-ship missiles or other types of potential enemy attacks?
Answering this question is the fundamental purpose of Shock Trials, as they are specifically intended to test the threshold of survivability for the USS Ford, a new high-tech class of carrier likely to clear a path into a new better, networked, more heavily armed advanced maritime warfare against major near-peer rivals.
New Era in Maritime Warfare
This process is perhaps of even much greater relevance for the Ford-class, as its arrival arguably helps begin a new era in maritime warfare placing carriers more fully into the role of a warship.
While carriers of course regularly travel in Carrier Strike Groups, in part to be protected from incoming enemy attacks by destroyers and cruisers, the big-deck power-projecting platforms are increasingly being themselves armed for heavy combat.
