Impressive image shows America's newest aircraft carrier about to float

The first time you see an American nuclear super-carrier in person, you can't believe the size. It's simply astonishing. It must be even more impressive if you see it like this, fully naked in a dry dock about to be flooded. Expand it to see it at full resolution.

It happened on October 11, 2013 at Newport News Shipbuilding's Dry Dock 12, where they floated the Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) for the first time.

She's the first of a new class of carriers that will eventually fully replace the current Nimitz-class fleet.

Photos by the US Navy