Kyra Kennedy was born on August 22, 1995. She is the second child of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his second wife, Mary Richardson.

People reported that Kennedy and Richardson started dating before the politician's divorce from his first wife, Emily Ruth Black, was finalized in 1994.

Kennedy married Richardson that same year, and they were married until Richardson's death by suicide on May 16, 2012. The couple were estranged at the time of her death, The Guardian reported.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has two children with Black: Robert "Bobby" Kennedy III, 40, and Kathleen Alexandra "Kick" Kennedy, 36.

Kennedy had four children with Richardson: Conor Richardson Kennedy, 30; Kyra LeMoyne Kennedy, 29; William "Finn" Kennedy, 28; and Aidan Caohman Vieques Kennedy, 24.

Kennedy married his third wife, actor Cheryl Hines, in 2014. They have no children together, though she has a daughter from a previous marriage.

Harper's Bazaar reported that then-21-year-old Kyra was "the latest Kennedy making headlines" after she made her formal debut in society at a 2013 debutante ball in Paris.

The event, known as "Le Bal," was held at the Automobile Club de France in Paris, and all attendees wore haute couture. As reported by Harper's Bazaar, Kennedy wore Dior, whom she had already interned with when she made her debut.

Vanity Fair reported that other debutantes that year included Larry David's daughter Romy and Lady Amelia Windsor, a member of the British royal family.

Kennedy has been a longtime fashion enthusiast.

In addition to earning her degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan, she also held internships at Kenneth Cole and Dior, Harper's Bazaar reported.

The New York Times coined the term "Snap Pack" in 2016. The group was made up of uber-rich young people who lived and partied in Manhattan, and who documented their lives for their many devoted Snapchat and Instagram followers.

Kennedy's high-profile social circle also included people like Gaia Matisse, the great-granddaughter of artist Henri Matisse, Donald Trump's daughter Tiffany Trump, and up-and-coming fashion designer Andrew Warren.

In 2016, Page Six reported that Kennedy's dad, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., had barred her from using social media after her reported involvement in a "cyberbullying" scandal.

The tabloid reported that Kyra Kennedy, then 20, had used her Instagram page to write mean comments on an Instagram page owned by Allie Jones, a New York writer who had written a post about The New York Times' "Snap Pack" article for The Cut, a subsidiary of New York Magazine. She later deleted the comments, per Page Six.

Jones recounted the experience in another article for The Cut, titled, "I'm Being Cyberbullied on Instagram by a Kennedy."

"Mr. Kennedy has spoken to Kyra and informed his daughter that their family does not bully people. He has instructed her to shut down all of her social media accounts immediately," a representative for the politician told Page Six.

The ban didn't last forever, however, as the Daily Mail reported in September 2019 that Kennedy had resumed using her social media pages.

Kyra Kennedy did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

In May 2016, she made her modeling debut posing for her friend and fellow Snap Pack member Andrew Warren's clothing line during New York Fashion Week, Harper's Bazaar reported.

According to her Instagram, she frequently attends brand pop-ups, fashion shows, and Fashion Week events held by major brands, from Gucci to Tod's and Louis Vuitton.

Kennedy now has over 30,000 followers on Instagram, where she documents her outfits, glamorous lifestyle, and travels.

Judging by her page, she still has many celebrity friends, including comedian Larry David's daughter Cazzie.

Kyra Kennedy did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment on this story.

Kennedy is the son of Robert F. Kennedy, a US senator who was assassinated in 1968, and Ethel Kennedy, a human-rights advocate who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2014. He is the third of the couple's 11 children, according to the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum.

Kennedy is also former President John F. Kennedy's nephew.

Kennedy attended Harvard and studied at the London School of Economics. He received his law degree from the University of Virginia Law School and earned a master's in environmental law from Pace University School of Law.

He founded the environmental nonprofit Waterkeeper Alliance in 1999, according to the organization's official website. His primary achievement was forcing the closure of the Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant.

Kennedy has long espoused anti-vaccine views, suggesting a flu vaccine may have caused his voice disorder (he has spasmodic dysphonia, a rare neurological disorder).

In 2005, he wrote an article published in Salon claiming that the mercury-based thimerosal compound in vaccines causes autism. After issuing multiple corrections, Salon eventually retracted the piece. Kennedy later founded the anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense, originally named the World Mercury Project, in 2011.

Kennedy rose to prominence during the pandemic for his opposition to COVID-19 vaccines.

At a press event held at a New York City restaurant in July 2023, Kennedy told the crowd that COVID-19 may have been "ethnically targeted" to attack certain groups of people.

"COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people," he said. "The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese."

"We don't know whether it was deliberately targeted or not, but there are papers out there that show the racial and ethnic differential and impact," he continued.

The Anti-Defamation League called Kennedy's remarks "deeply offensive," saying they fed into the "sinophobic and antisemitic conspiracy theories about COVID-19 that we have seen evolve over the last three years."

At Kennedy's Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday, he said some of his earlier comments had not been accurately represented.

"I'm not anti-vaccine," Kennedy said during his opening statement.

He said he would not limit access to vaccines if he were to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

"I support the measles vaccine," he said. "I support the polio vaccine. I will do nothing, as HHS secretary, to make it difficult or discourage people from taking it."

When asked about his statements about COVID-19, Kennedy said he did not say it "deliberately targeted" some people, and that he had been referencing a published study in his remarks.

In a June 2023 Twitter Spaces conversation hosted by Elon Musk, Kennedy likened Musk's purchase of Twitter, now known as X, to patriots who died fighting the American Revolution. He also attributed increased numbers of mass shootings to pharmaceutical companies for marketing antidepressants.

Later that month, in an appearance on "The Joe Rogan Experience," Kennedy claimed that "WiFi radiation does all kind of bad things, including causing cancer."

Kennedy also told CNN in July 2023 that environmental "endocrine disruptors" were causing "sexual confusion" and "gender confusion" in children, misconstruing studies that have shown these chemicals can cause some male frogs to become female and produce eggs.

A Kennedy campaign spokesperson told CNN that his remarks were "mischaracterized" and that he was "merely suggesting that, given copious research on the effects on other vertebrates, this possibility deserves further research."

Kennedy married fellow University of Virginia Law School student Emily Black in 1982 and had two children, Robert Francis "Bobby" Kennedy III and Kathleen, known as "Kick." They divorced in 1994.

That same year, he married interior designer Mary Richardson. The couple had four children: Conor, Kyra, Finn, and Aidan. Kennedy filed for divorce in 2010.

Kennedy is now married to "Curb Your Enthusiasm" actor Cheryl Hines, whom he wed in 2014.

On Wednesday, Hines appeared at Kennedy's confirmation hearing for health secretary.

Kennedy announced his 2024 presidential campaign in April 2023 at Boston's Park Plaza Hotel.

"My mission over the next 18 months of this campaign and throughout my presidency will be to end the corrupt merger of state and corporate power that is threatening now to impose a new kind of corporate feudalism in our country," he said in his speech.

Kennedy acknowledged that some of his family members did not support his presidential bid but harbored "no ill will or any kind of disappointment" toward them.

One of Kennedy's sisters, Kerry Kennedy, released a statement condemning his "deplorable and untruthful remarks" after he claimed COVID-19 was "ethnically targeted" to certain races.

In a statement to Business Insider's Alia Shoaib, Kerry Kennedy also said she would not support his campaign.

"I love my brother Bobby, but I do not share or endorse his opinions on many issues, including the COVID pandemic, vaccinations, and the role of social media platforms in policing false information," she said.

Former Rep. Joe Kennedy III of Massachusetts also posted on X that his uncle's comments were "hurtful and wrong."

In October 2023, Kennedy announced that he was no longer running for president as a democrat.

"I must declare my own independence," he said at a campaign event in Philadelphia. "Independence from the Democratic Party. And from all other political parties."

In March 2024, he named California attorney Nicole Shanahan as his vice presidential running mate.

She founded the patent technology company ClearAccessIP in 2013 and the Bia-Echo Foundation in 2019 to fund programs dedicated to criminal justice reform, reproductive research, and addressing the climate crisis.

Shanahan had previously donated to Democratic candidates such as Pete Buttigieg and Marianne Williamson but told Newsweek she planned to leave the Democratic party.

"I want somebody who will look out for young people and not treat them as if they're invisible," Kennedy told Newsweek of his decision to choose Shanahan as his running mate. "She's just 38 years old; she comes from technology and understands social media."

In August, Kennedy said he met with Trump and was "surprised to discover that we are aligned on many key issues."

"In those meetings, he suggested that we join forces as a unity party," Kennedy said.

Kennedy also said that he was making an effort to remove his name from ballots in 10 swing states.

"Our polling consistently showed that by staying on the ballot in the battleground states, I would likely hand the election over to the Democrats, with whom I disagree on the most existential issues," he said.

Upon receiving his endorsement, Trump added Kennedy to his transition team along with former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.

"I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS)," Trump wrote on Truth Social in November. "For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health."

Kennedy vowed to "make America healthy again" by proposing abolishing vaccine mandates, promoting alternative medicine, and lobbying against fluoride in drinking water.

The position of HHS Secretary requires Senate approval. Kennedy's cousin, Caroline Kennedy, urged lawmakers not to confirm him in a letter she sent to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and posted on X.

"Bobby is addicted to attention and power," Caroline Kennedy wrote of her cousin. "Bobby preys on the desperation of parents of sick children — vaccinating his own kids while building a following by hypocritically discouraging other parents from vaccinating theirs."

During a 2012 deposition during his divorce from Mary Richardson Kennedy, Kennedy said that he'd seen neurologists in an effort to diagnose memory issues, The New York Times reported in May 2024.

"I have cognitive problems, clearly," he said in the deposition. "I have short-term memory loss, and I have longer-term memory loss that affects me."

Kennedy said that one doctor suggested that he had a worm in his brain based on a dark spot in a scan that could have been "caused by a worm that got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died."

Kennedy told the Times the memory issues he experienced have since been resolved.

"He said he had recovered from the memory loss and fogginess and had no aftereffects from the parasite, which he said had not required treatment," The Times reported.

The health issues were in contrast to how he had portrayed himself in his presidential run, depicting himself as healthier, mentally and physically, than his then-rivals Trump and Biden.

In July, Kennedy denied a Vanity Fair report that he had once eaten a barbecued dog in Korea. The story included a photo of Kennedy holding a charred animal carcass. A veterinarian told the publication that it looked like the animal was a dog based on the number of ribs.

In a post on X, Kennedy said the image showed a goat in Patagonia, not a dog in Seoul.

In August, Kennedy revealed that he was behind the bear carcass that was found in Central Park in 2014. In a video on X, Kennedy said he'd planned to skin the animal after finding it dead on the side of the road but had to catch a flight, so he disposed of it in Central Park.

Kennedy explained he wanted to share the bear story ahead of a forthcoming New Yorker profile mentioning the incident. In the profile, Kennedy said he may have gotten his brain worm from the dead bear.

Also in August, a 2012 Town & Country interview with his daughter Kick resurfaced in which she said her father had decapitated a dead whale they'd found on a beach near the Kennedy home in Hyannis Port when she was 6. Kick said he strapped the whale head to the roof of their minivan before their drive back to New York, prompting "whale juice" to "pour into the windows of the car."

In response to reporters' questions about the incident, Kennedy said, "I'm not interested in feeding that feature of the mainstream media."

Kick Kennedy did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

"Earlier this year, the nature of some communication between myself and a former reporting subject turned personal," Nuzzi said in a statement to Darcy. "During that time, I did not directly report on the subject nor use them as a source. The relationship was never physical but should have been disclosed to prevent the appearance of a conflict. I deeply regret not doing so immediately and apologize to those I've disappointed, especially my colleagues at New York."

Nuzzi was placed on leave from New York magazine, and editor in chief David Haskell hired a law firm to investigate the matter and conduct a review of her reporting.

A representative for Kennedy denied the relationship, telling The New York Times, "Mr. Kennedy only met Olivia Nuzzi once in his life for an interview she requested, which yielded a hit piece." However, The Daily Beast reported that Kennedy had bragged about the relationship, making it something of an open secret in some circles.

In October, Nuzzi accused her ex-fiancé, Politico reporter Ryan Lizza, of blackmail. In a court filing, Nuzzi said that Lizza "threatened to make public personal information about me to destroy my life, career, and reputation — a threat he has since carried out."

Lizza denied the claims.

"I am saddened that my ex-fiancée would resort to making a series of false accusations against me as a way to divert attention from her own personal and professional failings," he said in a statement. "I emphatically deny these allegations and I will defend myself against them vigorously and successfully."

In November, Nuzzi withdrew her case against Lizza.

In a statement shared with Business Insider, Lizza said: "Olivia shamelessly used litigation with false and defamatory allegations as a public relations strategy."

"When required to do so, she refused to defend her claims in court last month. She then sought to hide my response to her claims from the public by seeking to seal the proceedings that she began," he wrote. "Now, on the eve of a hearing at which she knew her lies would be exposed, she has taken the only course available to her and withdrawn her fabricated claims."

"Olivia lied to me for almost a year. She lied to her editors. She lied to her readers. She lied to her colleagues. She lied to reporters. And she lied to the judge in this case," Lizza said. "I said I would defend myself against her lies vigorously and successfully and I am fully prepared to do so. But for now, I'm pleased this matter is closed."

Nuzzi's attorney, Ari Wilkenfeld, previously told BI: "Ms. Nuzzi has no interest in fighting a public relations battle. For insight into her decision, you can refer to the statements in her motion."

She was born in 1988 and is the daughter of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Emily Ruth Black, his first wife and the mother of his two oldest children. (RFK Jr. is now married to his third wife, Cheryl Hines.)

Kick Kennedy hasn't commented on her father's political endeavors, though other Kennedy family members have.

Kick Kennedy's namesake, Kathleen "Kick" Agnes Cavendish, was born in 1920. She was the daughter of Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. and Rose Kennedy and the sister of John F. Kennedy.

Just months after getting married in 1944, her husband was tragically killed in combat. Following his death, she entered into a relationship with Earl Peter Wentworth Fitzwilliam, a married man, People reported.

The couple planned to travel to Paris to seek her father's approval, but their 10-seat plane encountered severe turbulence and crashed in the mountains between Paris and Cannes.

Both she and the earl, who was piloting the aircraft, died instantly. She was only 28 years old. A write-up in The Atlantic said only her father attended her funeral.

The younger Kick Kennedy has one biological sibling from her father's first marriage to Emily Ruth Black: Robert "Bobby" Kennedy III, 39.

Her half siblings include Conor Kennedy, 30; Kyra Kennedy, 29; William Finbar Kennedy, 27; and Aidan Caohman Vieques Kennedy, 23.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. married Cheryl Hines, his third wife, in 2014. They have no children together, though she has a 20-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.

Though the relationship was short-lived, Swift was spotted spending time with Conor and the Kennedy family at their compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, in summer 2012.

"She's really sweet. It was a moment, really," Kick Kennedy told the New York Post in 2014 when asked what it was like for the superstar to date her brother. "But we always have exciting things going on — exciting people to meet."

Swift and Conor Kennedy's relationship reportedly ended in October 2012, though the fling may have inspired a few songs on her fourth studio album, "Red."

Kick Kennedy dated Paul Simon's son Harper in 2014, E! News reported.

She later dated Matthew Mellon, a member of the wealthy Mellon family, before he died on his way to a drug treatment facility in 2018, People reported.

Outlets reported earlier this month that she was getting to know Ben Affleck in the wake of his very public divorce from Jennifer Lopez.

Page Six reported that the two had been spotted together at the Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel, though Affleck's representative told People the two weren't dating.

Following the reports about Affleck, people clamored to find out more about the lesser-known member of the Kennedy clan. A 2012 profile of Kick Kennedy in Town & Country included a particularly wild story about her father.

Kick Kennedy told the magazine that when she was 6 years old, her father decapitated a dead whale they'd found on a beach near the Kennedy compound in Hyannis Port. She didn't share why her father wanted the whale head but said he "likes to study animal skulls and skeletons."

Problems arose when the family began making the five-hour drive from Hyannis to their home in New York with the whale head strapped to the roof of their minivan.

"Every time we accelerated on the highway, whale juice would pour into the windows of the car, and it was the rankest thing on the planet," she said.

She said that to deal with the leaking whale juice, "we all had plastic bags over our heads with mouth holes cut out."

"People on the highway were giving us the finger," she added. "But that was just normal day-to-day stuff for us."

It's a bizarre story, but it isn't the only time Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been in the news for questionable behavior involving animals.

In 2014, he took a dead bear cub from the road and posed with it in a photo as a "prank." The incident made local headlines.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he'd "been picking up roadkill my whole life," NBC reported earlier this month. "I have a freezer full of it," he said.

Kick Kennedy has appeared in several one-off episodes of popular shows like "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Gossip Girl," and "The Newsroom."

She also acted in an off-Broadway play in 2014, which "Today" called a "modern retelling" of Sophocles' "Antigone."

"I'm really lucky," she told The Associated Press at the time. "I've grown a lot just studying this part and I hope I can do it justice. I couldn't really ask for a better story to tell right now. It's just sort of magical that everything fell into place."

Kick Kennedy is a member of the founders' circle of the charity Well Beings, an organization that focuses on "the well-being of animals, people, and the planet," according to the company's mission statement.

While she's a member of one of the country's most famous and influential political families, she has spoken publicly about not wanting to rely on her pedigree to get ahead.

"People ask me, 'What's it like to be a Kennedy?'" Kick Kennedy said in a 2014 interview with the New York Post. "Maybe it's just the temperature of the water, but I'm just like, 'I have no idea.'"

"When I see my face or name in the tabloids, I get a knot in my stomach. It's just not me — it's reading something that's not real," she added.

She has, for now, a relatively modest 27,000 followers on Instagram.

Commissioned in September 1968, the Kennedy was the fourth and final vessel in the Kitty Hawk class, initially designated as an attack aircraft carrier.

Comprised of the first-in-class Kitty Hawk, USS Constellation, USS America, and the Kennedy, the vessels were the last group of carriers to be powered by fossil fuels, which were replaced by the Navy's Nimitz-class nuclear-powered flattops.

The name honored the president slain five years before, who had served as a naval officer during World War II. After his motor torpedo boat was rammed and sunk by a Japanese destroyer, he famously helped save his men from the water and relayed their stranded location to nearby allies by writing on a coconut husk.

After undergoing heavy modifications to adapt to a broader range of missions, the Kennedy became a class of its own, changing its classification to CV-67.

Nicknamed "Big John," the Kennedy completed 18 deployments over nearly four decades in service, including operations in the Mediterranean, Tyrrhenian, Ionian, Ligurian, Aegean, and Adriatic Seas.

In 2005, the Navy decided the cost of the maintenance overhaul for the aging carrier outweighed the benefits, opting to retire the ship instead. The aircraft carrier was taken out of service in August 2007 and towed to Philadelphia, moored alongside other inactive Navy vessels.

The Kennedy was notably involved in the Arab-Israeli conflict in the 1970s and deployed to the Middle East as part of the US response to the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

The vessel was also sent to waters off the coast of Lebanon after a suicide bomber struck the US Marine Corps Multi-National Forces Barracks at the Beirut International Airport, killing 241 Marines.

Aircraft aboard CV-67 launched the first major strikes on Iraq on the night of January 17, 1991, lighting up the night sky as the 80 sorties flying over Baghdad were pummeled with heavy fire from below.

"Imagine the Disney World light show, then magnify it 100 times," one pilot said. "That's what it looked like from the sky last night… it was incredible!"

The Kennedy and its battle group were also briefly deployed to the mid-Atlantic coastline to support the Nimitz-class carrier USS George Washington, establishing air security following the terror attacks in New York City on September 11, 2001.

"While John F. Kennedy Battle Group's services were needed for only a brief time, every member of the Battle Group was proud of their role in Operation Noble Eagle, providing security along the eastern seaboard of the United States," an observer with the Kennedy's battle group wrote, per the Navy.

The Kennedy also played an early role in the war in Afghanistan, launching the first air strikes off the coast of Pakistan that commenced Operation Enduring Freedom.

Not only will the Kennedy go down in history for its involvement in key conflicts in US history, but it was also the setting of one of the greatest military pranks of all time.

A Navy tradition dating back to the 1960s, crews aboard Navy aircraft carriers would prank the sailors aboard the relieving ship by releasing greased pigs on its flight deck.

When the Kennedy was set to relieve the Kitty Hawk-class supercarrier USS America in 1986, aviators aboard the America dropped off an unusual payload on the new arrivals: three greased pigs dyed with red, white, and blue food coloring.

In 2021, the Navy sold two old aircraft carriers — the Kennedy and the Kitty Hawk — to scrap dealers for just one cent each.

Though towing and breaking down the ship for scrap is a costly process, the profit from selling scrap steel, iron, and non-ferrous metal ores will benefit the company.

After 17 years at the Navy's decommissioned ship facility, Big John embarked on its final voyage to International Shipbreaking Limited's scrap metal yard in Brownsville, Texas.

Departing from the Philadelphia naval facility, the ship is set to sail into Delaware Bay and into the North Atlantic Ocean before transiting south, around the Florida peninsula, and then across the Gulf of Mexico.

The Kennedy namesake will live on in the future Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier.

Expected to be delivered to the Navy in the summer of 2025, the second-in-class PCU John F. Kennedy touts a hefty $11 billion price tag — albeit $2 billion shy of the $13 billion first-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford.

Measuring 1,092 feet in length — only a few feet shy of the height of the Eiffel Tower — the future Kennedy will be able to accommodate more than 75 aircraft.

Powered by two nuclear reactors, the Navy said its newest warship will incorporate nearly two dozen technological upgrades to make it more efficient, including improvements in propulsion, power generation, ordnance handling, and aircraft launch systems.

''USS John F. Kennedy will carry the legacy of its namesake and the power of our nation,'' then-acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said in a 2019 statement. ''The advanced technology and warfighting capabilities this aircraft carrier brings to our global challenges will strengthen our allies and partners, extend our reach against potential adversaries, and further the global mission of our integrated naval force.''

At just 9 years old, Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of the 35th president, was chosen as the sponsor for the first carrier named after her father.

Fifty-two years later, Caroline Kennedy was once again selected to be the sponsor of the future CVN-79, christening the ship in December 2019 in a ceremony attended by over 20,000 people at Newport News shipyard.

"Having a chance to get to know the people who served on the USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) really gave me insight into who he was and what kind of leader he was in a way that I wouldn't have had any other way," Caroline Kennedy said. "And I know that's going to be just as true now with a whole new generation."

Navy Capt. Todd Marzano, then the commanding officer of the Kennedy, told Business Insider said the Kennedy's construction was streamlined by improvements from the inefficiencies and delays that plagued the Ford.

"We are definitely benefiting from being the second aircraft carrier in the class," Marzano said in 2019. "We're leveraging their lessons learned, which has helped not only from the construction side but from our sailor training."

Using a modular process, workers built smaller sections of the ship to form a superlift, a structural unit fitted with piping, electrical equipment, cable, ventilation, and joiner work, before bringing it to the assembly area on the dry dock.

The second-in-class carrier was launched into the James River three months ahead of schedule in October 2019 — then set to be delivered to the Navy in 2022.

Despite being leagues ahead of schedule compared to its predecessor, the Kennedy was not immune to shipbuilding delays of its own. The carrier's delivery date kept being pushed back, due in part to supply chain issues brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and delays in the ship's capability upgrades.

At first, PCU Kennedy wasn't designed to launch fifth-generation stealth fighters, prompting Congress in 2020 to step in and pause the delivery of the $13 billion flattop until it was retrofitted to support the aircraft, which cost over $100 million.

In February 2024, the future supercarrier tested its new electromagnetic aircraft launching system by catapulting 80,000-pound wheeled carts into the James River to ensure it could handle actual loaded aircraft.

An improvement on the Nimitz class' steam-powered catapult, the EMALS has a higher launch capacity, sending aircraft barreling down the 300-foot track at over 150 miles per hour.

The modernized catapult and arresting gear are also optimized for more accurate end-speed control, reducing stress on the aircraft.

The Navy said the second-in-class carrier is now expected to be delivered in July 2025 to perform more work and prepare it for its first deployment in the Indo-Pacific.

The Navy said that assigning the Kennedy to the Pacific fleet would cut down the amount of time the carrier needed at the shipyard to identify any issues with the ship's systems, equipment, or performance.

Deploying the Kennedy to the Indo-Pacific is also intended to strengthen the US' naval presence in the region amid heightened tensions with China.

"Our adversaries are modernizing at speeds akin to the Germans and Japanese during the Interwar period — both in the physical and technological sense," US Fleet Forces Commander Adm. Daryl Caudle said in June 2024.

"Winning this competition means achieving an overmatch of our adversaries," he added. "That necessitates having a fleet of technologically advanced warships with the readiness and lethal capabilities to answer our nation's call at a moment's notice."

The first-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford is named after the 38th US president who office after then-President Richard Nixon resigned in the wake of the Watergate Scandal.

Ford granted Nixon a controversial pardon saying it was in the country's best interest to put an end to the "American tragedy in which we all — all have played a part," he said at the time.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest and most advanced aircraft carrier, completed its first full deployment last January, which the Pentagon extended in response to the October 7 Hamas attacks in Israel.

The Ford and the other warships in its strike group served in part as a deterrence message for its 239-day deployment to the Mediterranean in 2023.

The second-in-class USS John F. Kennedy was named after the 35th US president, sharing its namesake with the last conventional aircraft carrier built for the Navy before the introduction of the nuclear-powered Nimitz class.

The future carrier was initially set to deliver in June 2024 but was delayed a year to July 2025 so the Navy could perform more work to prepare it for deployment in the Indo-Pacific.

The Navy said the Kennedy would be equipped with "new technology and warfighting capabilities," making the future aircraft carrier the "most agile and lethal combat platform globally."

The future USS Enterprise is one of two Ford-class carriers that wasn't named after a US president. It carries on a storied name whose heritage includes the world's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, a decorated World War II carrier, and a brig from the Barbary War over 200 years ago.

Still under construction at Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News — the US's only aircraft carrier shipyard — the Enterprise was initially scheduled to deliver by March 2028, but the Navy's shipbuilding review found that it will now deliver by May 2030 at the latest.

In November, the Enterprise was moved for the first time at the shipyard to accommodate the construction of USS Doris Miller on the same dry dock.

The other Ford-class carrier without a US president's name is the future USS Doris Miller.

The future supercarrier, named after US Navy sailor Doris "Dorie" Miller, is expected to be delivered a year and a half later than scheduled in early 2032.

Miller was a World War II hero of the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The mess attendant fired at Japanese aircraft with a .50 caliber machine gun on the battleship USS West Virginia and was the first Black person to be awarded the Navy Cross, the service's second-highest award for valor.

"Naming CVN 81 for Dorie Miller casts long overdue recognition to a true American hero and icon," then-Master Chief Petty Officer Russell Smith said during the ship's naming ceremony. "It also honors the contributions of African Americans and enlisted sailors for the first time in the history of American aircraft carriers."

One controversy has been that the Nimitz-class carrier John C. Stennis honors a key lawmaker behind the funding of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, who was also a longtime segregationist and opponent of the US Navy's racial integration.

Bill Clinton served as the 42nd president of the US, becoming the second president in US history to be impeached after Andrew Johnson in 1868. He faced charges of lying under oath and obstruction of justice in the wake of his infamous affair with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

In his time as commander-in-chief, Clinton ordered cruise missile strikes against Iraq in retaliation for the assassination attempt on former President George H.W. Bush. He also played a key role in promoting peace in the Middle East and Northern Ireland through the Oslo Accords and the Good Friday Agreement.

The name of the future CVN 82 was announced in a private ceremony shortly after the new year, during which former President Clinton's daughter, Chelsea Clinton, was announced as the carrier's sponsor.

"It's never far from my mind that the precious freedoms Americans enjoy are safeguarded by our armed forces, anchored by a strong, modern, and agile Navy," Clinton said in a statement. "I'm honored that future servicemembers carrying on that proud tradition will serve on a carrier bearing my name."

The sixth Ford-class carrier will bear the name of former President George W. Bush, whose presidency was defined by the 9/11 attacks and the launching of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

He implemented domestic counterterrorism measures and built a worldwide coalition to dismantle terrorist groups globally.

"I am honored that my name will be associated with the United States Navy and a symbol of our Nation's might," Bush said in a statement. "I have a special admiration for the men and women of our Navy — including my dad — and ask God to watch over this ship and those who sail aboard her."

The 10th and final Nimitz-class carrier was named after Bush's father, George H.W. Bush, who served as the 41st president of the US. The elder Bush was honored for his service as one of the youngest naval aviators serving in World War II, receiving military decorations like the Distinguished Flying Cross, three Air Medals, and the Presidential Unit Citation.

CVN 82 and CVN 83 will be the fifth and sixth carriers to join the Navy's fleet in the coming decade, but they are not yet under construction, nor have contracts been issued to HII's Newport News.

In a briefing last week, Christopher Kastner, CEO and president of HII, urged the US Navy to follow its shipbuilding timeline to procure USS William J. Clinton by 2028 as planned to avoid supply chain and workforce issues.