Full steam in reverse: Trump orders US Navy back to old-style aircraft catapults - Navy Lookout Replacing EMALS is considerably more complicated than exchanging one type of catapult for another. The Ford class was designed from the outset around extensive electrification. Its two A1B reactors provide far more generating capacity than those of the preceding Nimitz class, and electricity does the work that steam, hydraulics or mechanical machinery performed on earlier carriers. EMALS is therefore integrated deeply into the architecture of the ship, crossing 48 separate ship construction zones. Removing it from a mature design would have consequences extending far beyond the machinery immediately underneath the flight deck. A steam catapult requires high-pressure steam to be drawn from the propulsion plant and distributed through substantial pipework to the catapult machinery, along with the associated water, condensation and maintenance arrangements. The spaces and infrastructure necessary to support this equipment were deliberately designed out of Ford.
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