Harrison Kass
Nimitz-Class Aircraft Carrier USS John C. Stennis Has a Problem
The U.S. Navy’s Fiscal Year 2025 budget revealed USS John C. Stennis’s overhaul and refueling will be delayed another 14 months. The ship’s overhaul began in 2021 and was supposed to be finished by August 2025, with Stennis ready to rejoin the fleet. But the budget report indicates Stennis will not be available until October 2026.
According to Rear Adm. Casey Morton, the extended rehaul time is a result of COVID-related workforce and material shortfalls. NAVSEA, meanwhile, says the delay is “due both to mandatory growth work following ship conditions assessments, as well as industrial base challenges.” So the Navy is being pretty vague about why Stennis will need an extra 14 months – and blaming COVID, which is becoming the default excuse across sectors.
Hopefully the Navy can apply lessons gleaned from USS George Washington’s delayed and exceedingly difficult overhaul as work on Stennis proceeds. George Washington underwent its RCOH (Refueling and Complex Overhaul) for six long years, during which the sailors worked at the shipyard in what a report would later find were extremely difficult conditions. The report was conducted after several George Washington sailors committed suicide during the overhaul.
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