Construction began before the basic design stabilized

A June 2025 assessment quoted here said the program had not completed the functional design needed to demonstrate stability more than two years after lead-ship construction began. It reported an April 2029 delivery plan, three years beyond the original contracted date. The Navy and builder were still revising general-arrangement drawings and structural components on which later design work depended. These drawings determine basic equipment locations, including where the engines go. The assessment contrasts that sequence with leading practice, which completes basic and functional design before construction starts. Even billable alterations cost the builder time and increase cancellation risk, supporting an inference that customers drove the cycle of changes; the origin of every change remains unestablished. The assessment's elapsed-time statement is separate from the later April 2024 work-start reference, and the discrepancy remains unresolved.