The U.S. Navy’s new supercarrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), was floated in the drydock last month. She will be christened this Saturday, November 9th at the Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding in Newport News, Virginia. In addition to other superlatives, she is the most costly aircraft carrier ever built. When the ship finally goes into service in 2016, she is expected to have cost $12.9 billion dollars. The ship is roughly 24% over budget. Rear Admiral Thomas Moore, the officer in charge of aircraft carriers, promised recently that the next carrier, the USS John F. Kennedy, would cost $1.2 billion less.
US Navy pledges cost cuts as it christens new aircraft carrier
The Navy recently floated the new destroyer, USS Zumwalt, which is estimated to have cost $7 billion, making it the most destroyer in history, was well. The Zumwalt was scheduled to be christened on October 19th but the christening was canceled due to the recent government shutdown. It is expected to be rescheduled in the spring.
In August we posted about 
My younger son, a senior in high school, mentioned to me a few mornings ago that the newest version of the historical action-adventure video game, 
In our 
Award-winning architect Dame Zaha Hadid has designed a family of super-yachts with a skeletal superstructure for the German shipbuilders Blohm+Voss. These are the first super-yachts designed by Hadid who is known for a wide range of project including the Roca London Gallery, the BMW Central Building in Leipzig, Germany, MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome and thethe Aquatics Centre built in London for last summer’s Olympics.
Google has been causing quite a stir on the waterfront. Two mysterious barges have appeared, one on the Pacific in 
Today is the first anniversary of 
Last week, two rare oarfish washed up (or in the case of the first was dragged up) on the shores of Southern California. Yesterday, Japan was stuck by a 7.3 magnitude earthquake. A coincidence? It seems that there is Japanese folklore that says that sighting of oarfish portends a coming earthquake. Oarfish are the longest bony fish in the ocean and can grow up to around 17 meters or 56 feet long. The two that washed up in California were only 18′ and 14′ long, which is still very impressive. Oarfish, which tend to stay in deep water, are rarely seen on the surface. When they do make an appearance they are understandably often referred to as “sea serpents,” given their long snake-like bodies. It is easy to understand how they might be useful in folklore as a predictor of ill-tidings. If sea serpents start appearing, something bad must be coming. In Japan, the oarfish is traditionally known as the “Messenger from the Sea God’s Palace.” (If the Sea God is sending you a message, it is better sent by a sea serpent rather than a sea bass.)