After spending an impressive 15 months underway in the last two years, US Navy aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) is now ready to start its overhaul at Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY).
The ship arrived at NNSY on July 7, where it will start an extended carrier incremental availability.
Coming off a seven-month deployment, Truman now joins USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) as the second carrier on the NNSY waterfront.
“If the Bush’s drydocking planned incremental availability is a marathon involving extensive maintenance, then Truman’s availability is more of a sprint, requiring approximately 208,000 workdays of maintenance and expected to complete in a matter of months,” the navy said.
For the first time at NNSY, two carriers will share a single pier. The Bush will undock later this summer to complete the last leg of its availability.
“It was just a few weeks ago that the ship made history performing exercises with USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), marking the first time a Ford-class and Nimitz-class carrier were together at sea,” said Shipyard Commander, Captain Kai Torkelson. “Now that the Truman is out of its bubble at sea, we welcome them into the bubble of America’s Shipyard, where we all stand united in minimizing the spread while maximizing the mission working these next several months providing superior quality and reliable delivery!”
The Truman project team has positioned itself for success in several ways, including getting an early start at Naval Station Norfolk for several weeks prior to the carrier’s arrival at NNSY, offloading the air wing, moving trailers onboard, performing shipchecks, and making access cuts.
The Truman project team will benefit from a surge maintenance (SurgeMain) mobilization effort across all four of the nation’s public shipyards. NNSY is welcoming approximately 140 reserve sailors this month to eventually culminate in more than 480 reservists supporting work on a variety of NNSY projects through September 2021. Established in 2005, SurgeMain has 2,200 enlisted reserve sailors and 240 reserve officers across 75 units, created to augment the Navy’s organic civilian shipyard workforce in times of need.
