US Navy aircraft carrier John C. Stennis: “Out of action” for over 5 years

Summary and key points: The overhaul and refueling of USS John C. Stennis, originally scheduled to be completed by August 2025, has been delayed by 14 months and is now expected to be completed in October 2026.

– The delay is due to COVID-related shortages of personnel and materials as well as unforeseen mandatory growth works following the assessment of the vessel’s condition.

– This delay is a consequence of the demanding overhaul of the USS George Washington, which lasted six years and was characterized by difficult living conditions for the sailors.

– The Navy seeks to prevent a recurrence of these problems by securing additional funding for better off-ship accommodations and improved living standards for the Stennis crew.

The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis has a problem

The US Navy’s budget for fiscal year 2025 has been announced USS John C. Stennis’s Overhaul and refueling will be delayed by a further 14 months. The ship’s overhaul began in 2021 and was scheduled to be completed by August 2025. Stennis ready to rejoin the fleet. But the budget report shows Stennis will not be available until October 2026.

According to Rear Admiral Casey Morton, the extended overhaul time is due to COVID-related personnel and material shortages. NAVSEA, on the other hand, says the delay is “due to both mandatory growth work following the ship condition assessment and industrial base challenges.” So the Navy is pretty vague about why Stennis another 14 months – and the blame is placed on COVID-19, which is becoming the standard excuse across industries.

Hopefully the Navy can apply the lessons from the USS George Washington’s delayed and extremely difficult overhaul, as work on Stennis Proceeds. George Washington underwent a RCOH (Refueling and Complex Overhaul) for six long years, during which the sailors at the shipyard worked under extremely difficult conditions, as a report later showed. The report was published after several George Washington During the overhaul, sailors committed suicide.

Stennis is expected to be overtaken faster than George Washingtonand better working conditions with a higher quality of life. However, once completed, this will be the airline’s second longest overhaul since 2001.

A worrying trend

The Navy has overhauled carriers seven times since 2001. The most effective was the USS Nimitza refit that lasted 1,129 days. Four of the refits lasted between 1,338 and 1,506 days: USS Dwight D. EisenhowerUSS Theodore RooseveltUSS Abraham Lincolnand USS Carl Vinson. Stennis And George Washington are outliers. The Stennis The overhaul is expected to take 1,990 days, during George Washington’s lasted a remarkable 2,120 days.

Improvement in quality of life compared to the George Washington The Navy has requested additional funds for the overhaul. Stennis Sailors will be able to live off the ship while the overhaul is completed. The funds will be used for “additional months of crew housing and to provide more off-ship accommodations in apartments instead of barracks for sailors,” USNI reported. “Beginning with (Stennis} RCOH, during RCOH, no shipboard accommodation will be used for crews billeted for seafarers. In previous RCOH availabilities, onboard crew changeovers occurred almost a year before the ship was redelivered.”

The funds are a direct result of a report that found that the overhaul caused George Washington Sailors experience the “toughest standard of living in the U.S. military.” The report also found that George Washington The sailors lacked parking, adequate accommodation, reliable Wi-Fi and healthy food – which made their suffering even worse. Hopefully, the conditions on board Stennis improved and the refit can hopefully be completed as planned so that she can rejoin the fleet at sea.

About the author: Harrison Kass, defense expert

Harrison Kass is a defense and national security writer who has written over 1,000 articles on world affairs. Harrison is a lawyer, pilot, guitarist, and part-time professional hockey player. He joined the U.S. Air Force as a student pilot but was medically discharged. Harrison holds a BA from Lake Forest College, a JD from the University of Oregon, and an MA from New York University. Harrison listens to Dokken.