Commissioned in December 1995, the nation’s seventh Nimitz-class nuclear-powered plane provider entered RCOH in Might 2021, beneath a $3 billion contract with NNS. The overhaul is now greater than 65% full and monitoring for redelivery in October 2026.
Plane carriers enter refueling advanced overhauls on the mid-point of their 50-plus-year lifespan, incorporating upgrades to propulsion gear, infrastructure, and digital methods. After NNS flooded the dry dock with greater than 100 million gallons of water, the ship moved to the shipyard’s outfitting berth, the place shipyard employees and crew will full the set up and testing of main parts and fight assist methods.
Rear Adm. Casey J. Moton, Program Govt Workplace Plane Carriers, acknowledged the vital milestone, including that the subsequent section of the ship’s overhaul will ship spectacular new applied sciences to assist the Navy’s warfighters, enabling John C. Stennis to fulfill operational taskings throughout one other 25-plus years of service.
“When John C. Stennis redelivers, she’ll be probably the most technologically superior Nimitz-class plane provider within the Navy,” mentioned Moton. “She’ll carry to the Fleet the very best stage of functionality throughout all mission units.”
Moton additionally acknowledged that the shipyard and Navy workforce have been navigating a number of challenges and dealing beneath an prolonged redelivery schedule due each to obligatory development work following ship situation assessments, in addition to industrial base challenges.
“The Navy-Business workforce is coping with the lingering results of a post-COVID industrial base – one that features a diminished or unstable functionality and capability together with challenges in workforce recruitment, retention and proficiency. Nonetheless, the underside line is that Fleet operators want us to ship these capital property to our warfighters prepared for tasking, so we’re working every day with our Business companions and throughout the Navy to speed up downside fixing and to hurry manufacturing on the deck plates—all targeted on delivering readiness. I’m pleased with our whole workforce for reaching this vital manufacturing milestone in the direction of redelivering USS John C. Stennis to the Fleet.”
Capt. Mark Johnson, supervisor of the PEO Plane Carriers In-Service Plane Provider Program Workplace, mentioned that the Navy-Business workforce is leveraging classes realized from the Navy’s earlier RCOHs, particularly on USS George Washington (CVN 73), which lately was redelivered in Might 2023.
“Recognizing the altering workforce demographics popping out of the COVID pandemic, the mixed Navy/Shipbuilder workforce has taken measurable steps to enhance the extent of assist to the mechanic or sailor really performing work on the ship by leveraging new digital administration instruments and processes,” mentioned Johnson.
Greater than 25 million whole man-hours of labor will go into John C. Stennis’ RCOH, with crews refitting and putting in a brand new sq. and tapered mast, accommodating state-of-the-art protection and communications methods, updates to the ship’s shafts, refurbished propellers, and modernized plane launch and restoration gear.
“RCOH building enhances practically each area and system on the provider, past probably the most essential requirement to defuel and refuel the ship’s two nuclear reactors and to restore and improve the propulsion plant,” Johnson mentioned. “We work on each a part of the ship, from the hull, screws, and rudders to greater than 600 tanks; 1000’s of valves, pumps, and piping parts; electrical cables and air flow; in addition to fight and aviation assist methods. It’s demanding, advanced work that challenges each member of the planning workforce, shipyard crews, and ship’s pressure.”
Throughout the upcoming outfitting and testing section, shipbuilders will full the overhaul and set up of the ship’s main parts and check its electronics, fight, and propulsion methods. This era may even deal with enhancing the ship’s residing areas and the final high quality of life for the sailors, together with crew residing areas, galleys, and mess decks.
