Servicing aircraft carriers throughout their lifetime
We service aircraft carriers throughout their lifetime, including the mid-life project that refuels the nuclear reactors (RCOH), and inactivation.
Newport News Shipbuilding is the only shipyard to perform refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) work on aircraft carriers. This massive undertaking was described in a 2002 Rand Study as one of the most challenging engineering and industrial tasks undertaken anywhere by any organization.
The multi-year project is performed only once during a carrier’s 50-year life and includes refueling of the ship’s two nuclear reactors, as well as significant repair, upgrade and modernization work. We have completed the refueling and complex overhaul of the first six ships of the Nimitz-class, USS Nimitz (CVN 68), USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71), USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) and USS George Washington (CVN 73). Today, we are performing this work on the seventh ship in the class, USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74).
Newport News Shipbuilding also offers inactivation services for nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. In 2018, NNS successfully completed the inactivation of Enterprise (CVN 65), which began in 2013. The NNS-built Enterprise was the world’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and the only ship of its class.