The US Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C Stennis (CVN 74) arrived at Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding division on 6 May to start the ship’s refuelling and complex overhaul (RCOH) as the shipyard continues work on four other carriers there.
The yard was recently awarded a contract worth about USD3 billion to overhaul the carrier, Chris Kastner, HII executive vice president and chief operating officer, told analysts during a 6 May conference call on the company’s quarterly earnings.
RCOH work on another Nimitz carrier in the yard, USS George Washington (CVN 73), is about 87% complete and the ship’s crew recently started to move back on board the ship, Kastner said.
“This is another key milestone in support of re-delivery to the navy plan for next year,” he said.
Also in the shipyard is the second Ford-class carrier John F Kennedy, which is about 81% complete, he estimated.
“The team is finalising plans to support the single-phase delivery requirements, while continuing to focus on compartment completion and key initial test milestones,” he said.
Addressing analysts during the same quarterly call, Mike Petters, HII CEO, said the third and fourth Ford-class carriers, Enterprise (CVN 80) and Doris Miller (CVN 81), are also under contract and under construction at the yard. The US Navy (USN) had acquired both ships under one contract.
The USN said the service would have paid about USD4 billion more for the total price of the two carriers if it had bought them each separately.
“I was a [carrier construction] programme manager for the Stennis and (USS Harry S) Truman
Looking to read the full article?
Gain unlimited access to Janes news and more...
