Image: Northrop built newly commissioned George H.W. Bush and has two more aircraft carriers in the works. From Barrons:
COMMISSIONING A NEW WARSHIP IS NOTHING unusual at the Northrop Grumman (ticker: NOC) shipyard in Newport News, Va. Still, there was plenty of pomp and circumstance two months ago when a U.S. Navy crew arrived to take charge of the George H.W. Bush, the 10th and last Nimitz-class supercarrier.
It was the end of one era in Northrop shipbuilding and the beginning of another. Even as the Navy prepares to put the Bush into service, the keel is about to be laid in the same yard for its successor, the lead ship of an even more powerful class of carrier. Under a seven-year cost-plus contract, Northrop will deliver the Gerald R. Ford in 2015 at a cost of about $8 billion, followed by another carrier, yet to be named, in 2019.
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My Comment: The company is clearly confident that military budget cuts will not touch them.