Aircraft carrier John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) is back at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division after wrapping up builder’s trials, the company said Wednesday.

The future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) left the Virginia shipyard one week ago for the trials, which are meant to test the ship and its systems ahead of delivery to the U.S. Navy.

“The sea trials brought together NNS shipbuilders, John F. Kennedy sailors and Navy personnel to execute the testing and demonstrate ship operations,” reads a company news release.

John F. Kennedy, the second in the Ford class of aircraft carriers, is slated to deliver to the Navy in March 2027.

Newport News Shipbuilding president Kari Wilkinson told USNI News in December that John F. Kennedy is scheduled for preliminary acceptance in the middle of this year.

The carrier has faced multiple delays over the years, as the Navy altered the delivery approach for the ship several times. After switching from a dual phase delivery to a single phase in 2020, the Navy planned to receive the carrier with modifications to accommodate the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter Lightning II – a capability the service previously planned to backfit later. The carrier will also deliver with the new Enterprise Air Surveillance Radar.

The ship’s delivery schedule slipped again last year due to ongoing challenges incorporating new technologies like the Advanced Arresting Gear (AAG) certification and the Advanced Weapons Elevator (AWE). These two capabilities – the system used to catch aircraft landing on the deck of the carrier and the weapons elevators that move ordnance through the ship – are new to the Navy.

The latest delay to John F. Kennedy’s delivery means the Navy’s carrier inventory will dip from 11 to 10 ships for about a year after USS Nimitz (CVN-68) retires in the coming months.