US Navy gives its most expensive aircraft carrier a shock test

The United States Navy undertook shock trials for its new aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R Ford, off the East Coast of the United States.

USS Gerald Ford, the newest and most advanced aircraft carrier in the US Navy, was hit with the blast about 100 miles off the Florida coast. The US Geological Survey registered the blast as a 3.9 magnitude earthquake. Photograph: US Navy

The shock trials provided data that will be used to validate the hardness of the ship and its ability to withstand battle conditions. Photograph: US Navy

According to the US Navy, the shock test was done within a narrow schedule that complied with environmental mitigation requirements, respecting known migration patterns of marine life in the test area. Photograph: US Navy

At $13.3 billion, USS Gerald R Ford is easily the most expensive warship ever built. Photograph: US Navy

The aircraft carrier is engineered to support new technologies and a modern air wing essential to deterring and defeating near-peer adversaries in a complex maritime environment. Photograph: US Navy

The last US aircraft carrier to execute a full ship shock trial was USS Theodore Roosevelt in 1987. Photograph: US Navy