🇺🇸 US President 🚢 A warship ⚓ A ship class

Gerald R. Ford

8.2

A large United States Navy ship that carries aircraft and uses nuclear power

proper noun

: USS Gerald R. Ford

The USS Gerald R. Ford was commissioned in 2017.

Examples

The Navy commissioned the Gerald R. Ford after years of sea trials and system upgrades.
The Gerald R. Ford completed its first deployment to demonstrate its new weapons systems abroad.
During the parade, sailors aboard the Gerald R. Ford waved to the watching crowd onshore.
Did you know the Gerald R. Ford is the most advanced aircraft carrier?
The Navy commissioned the Gerald R. Ford after years of sea trials and system upgrades.
During the parade, sailors aboard the Gerald R. Ford waved to the watching crowd onshore.
The Gerald R. Ford completed its first deployment to demonstrate its new weapons systems abroad.

Surface Forms

Gerald R. Ford main

Morphology

Gerald + R. + Ford

This is a proper name referring to a specific person and a ship class; the meanings ('a US president' or 'a class of aircraft carriers') cannot be derived from the literal words 'Gerald', 'R.', and 'Ford'. Understanding requires encyclopedic or cultural knowledge rather than compositional word knowledge, so a B1 learner who only knows the constituent words would not infer the MWE meaning.

Etymology

Gerald R. Ford is the name of a US Navy aircraft carrier that honors the president. Navies often put a famous leader's name on a ship, so the ship's name reminds people that it was named for that president.