The first piece of steel, a 15-ton plate for a side shell unit of CVN 78, the first aircraft carrier of the CVN 21 program, cut at the Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard. The ceremony held at the shipyards new heavy-plate bay facility, one of several new facilities built for the CVN 21 program. Innovations for the CVN 21 program include an enhanced flight deck capable of increased sortie rates, improved weapons movement, a redesigned island, a new nuclear power plant, reduced manning and allowed for future technologies