The U.S. Navy has tested the new aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford following years of delays.
The carrier got underway on Saturday with more than a thousand Navy sailors on board, along with hundreds of officials and workers, to test its systems in the first of its sea trials, the Associated Press reported.
The carrier, which costs $12.9 billion, left from the Huntington Ingalls Industries-Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia after years of delay and cost overruns.
Building on the Ford began in 2009, with a goal of finishing by September 2015 at a budget of $10.5 billion. Issues with the carrier’s advanced systems and technology delayed its completion.
The carrier will return to its Virginia port before going underway again for “acceptance trials,” the AP reported.