[7] On 29 May 2011, the Department of Defense announced that the ship would be named for John F. Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, who served in the navy during World War II.

On 15 January 2009, Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding was awarded a $374-million contract for design work and construction preparation for John F.

[10] On 25 February 2011, the Navy conducted the First Cut of Steel ceremony at Northrop Grumman in Newport News, signalling the formal start of construction for John F.

[1] In September 2013, the Government Accountability Office recommended delaying the detail design and construction contract for John F. Kennedy until programmatic shortfalls are sorted out.

The Navy faces technical, design, and construction challenges to completing Gerald R. Ford, including producing systems prior to demonstrating their maturity to meet required installation dates.

Caroline could not be present, so the order was given via radio for the crane operator to lift the island and set it down on the deck over the ceremonial items and entombing them in the ship's superstructure.

[22] On 1 October 2019, the ship's crew was activated for the first time as Pre-Commissioning Unit (PCU) John F. Kennedy at a ceremony aboard the vessel at Newport News Shipbuilding.

[4] In November 2020, HII received a nine-figure modification on an earlier contract to accomplish CVN 79 "single phase delivery and Joint Strike Fighter (F-35C) capabilities" in Newport News, Virginia.

[25] According to the contract announcement, the "single-phase delivery approach" is adopted "to meet both Fleet requirements and a congressional mandate of ensuring that CVN 79 is capable of operating and deploying Joint Strike Fighter (F-35C) aircraft before completing the post-shakedown availability (PSA) as codified in Section 124 of the fiscal 2020 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 116-92).