Aircraft Carriers II (Closed to posting)

The aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt will leave Virginia on Monday in a voyage that will eventually bring the nuclear flattop to its new home in San Diego.

The Roosevelt’s departure is the first move in a three-part maneuver that will take the San Diego-based carrier Ronald Reagan to Japan and the flattop George Washington, now based in Japan, to a shipyard in Virginia.

The Roosevelt sails with four other ships for a standard at least six-month deployment to the Arabian and Mediterranean seas.

At the end of that tour, in late fall, the carrier will come to San Diego as its new home port.

The Reagan, nearing the end of a maintenance period, is expected to leave San Diego in late summer.

The George Washington is scheduled to leave its home of Yokosuka, Japan, headed for San Diego in late summer. By late fall, it should arrive at Newport News, Va., where it will undergo a roughly five-year refueling process for its nuclear power plant.

Making Navy history, a large group of Reagan sailors will serve on all three carriers in the coming year. They’ll take ownership of the George Washington for what’s been described as a “short cruise,” then switch to the Roosevelt.

Some wags on the San Diego carrier have created a logo for the occasion, calling the group the “Three Presidents Crew.”

Click to expand...

KOCHI: The VIPs of the Indian Navy are here. Aircraft carriers INS Vikramaditya and INS Viraat reached Kochi on Monday. This is the first time that the newly acquired INS Vikramaditya is visiting Kochi after she entered into the service of the Indian Navy. It is also the first time that both aircraft carriers of the Indian Navy are berthing in Kochi simultaneously. The fleet of seven ships under the Western Naval Command, including the two aircraft carriers, is commanded by Flag Officer Commanding Western fleet Rear Admiral R Hari Kumar. The visit of the fleet is aimed at professional interactions between the officers and men of the different training units in Kochi and the visiting ships. The interaction is aimed at synergising the training and operational aspects of the Navy. Acquired in 2013 and formally inducted into service in June 2014. Vikramaditya, is based at Karwar in Karnataka and is commanded by Captain Suraj Berry. Originally built and commissioned in 1987, the carrier served with the Soviet Union and later with the Russian Navy as Admiral Gorshkov before it was decommissioned in 1996 owing to the high cost of operations. The carrier was purchased by India in January 2004 and she was handed over in 2013 after refitting and sea trials. The ship has been fully integrated with the fleet post trials and has successfully participated in the recently concluded Theater level Readiness and Operational Exercise (TROPEX) where it was extensively used in its operational role. INS Virat, the other aircraft carrier is commanded by Capt Rajesh Pendharkar.

Click to expand...

The Virginian-Pilot
© March 11, 2015
NORFOLK

The aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt finally pulled away from Norfolk Naval Station this morning – two days after its scheduled departure was delayed by tiny aquatic invertebrates.

Crews had been working since Monday to clear the ship's seawater intakes, which were clogged by Bryozoa.

The organisms were sucked up by large intakes under the Roosevelt that take in water to cool equipment. That can foul condensers and affect the ship's propulsion and power generation. Known as "moss animals," they are common in Hampton Roads.

This wasn't the first time Norfolk-based carriers were delayed as a result of Bryozoa. The carrier George H.W. Bush was delayed by several hours last year, as was the carrier Enterprise as it attempted to embark on its final deployment in 2012.

The rest of the Roosevelt strike group deployed Monday, as scheduled. The Roosevelt will now join the guided missile cruiser Normandy and guided missile destroyers Winston S. Churchill, Forrest Sherman and Farragut to conduct operations in the Mediterranean, Middle East and Pacific for about eight months.

At the end of the deployment, the Roosevelt will head to its new homeport in San Diego.

Click to expand...

Silvestre said:

French or americano carrier?

Click to expand...

Sen. John McCain took aim at the Ford-class aircraft carrier program Tuesday, telling Navy leaders that Congress should work to "reduce cost and increase competition" in the program.

"Twelve billion dollars or more for one ship is simply too expensive," he said at a hearing to discuss the Navy's 2016 budget request.

Huntington Ingalls Industries is the sole U.S. builder of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and Virginia's largest industrial employer. Mike Petters, the company's CEO, recently told financial analysts that it plans to invest in its Newport News shipyard, both in infrastructure and construction processes, to boost the efficiency of its carrier-building operation.

Petters said even though HII is the only builder of aircraft carriers, it is still competing against the Navy budget to hold down costs.

McCain, who is chairman of the Senate Armed Services committee, has been a consistent critic of the Ford-class program, which has suffered from delays and cost overruns but has since stabilized. His office did not return a call seeking more detail on what McCain meant by increased competition.

HII's Newport News Shipbuilding division is working on three Ford-class carriers. The first-in-class Gerald R. Ford has been launched, and is undergoing further outfitting testing before being delivered to the Navy next year. Sections of the next ship, to be named for John F. Kennedy, are already taking shape. The third ship, now in the planning stages, will be named Enterprise.

Procurement costs for all three ships have increased anywhere from 22.9 percent to 25.7 percent since fiscal year 2008, according to a March 3 report from the Congressional Research Service. However, the same report also noted that costs on Ford have stabilized, while costs on Kennedy and Enterprise have dropped slightly.

The Ford's cost is now pegged at $12.9 billion, although the Government Accountability Office has questioned whether the Navy can stay under that amount because of costs related to new technologies and required testing.

Testifying at Tuesday's hearing, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus acknowledged problems with the first-in-class ship.

"The way the Ford was built is not the way to build a ship," he said. "It was designed while it was being built. Too much technology was trying to be forced in, and that technology was not mature."

The Kennedy is expected to come in at about $11.5 billion. GAO has also questioned the feasibility of that goal, although Mabus said the Navy would come in under that. He was also optimistic on the program going forward.

"We've had stable costs for the last three years or more now," he said. "It goes down every day. There is still some risk in the testing of those brand new systems."

Despite these questions, McCain said he strongly supports a more robust Navy fleet and is urging his fellow Republicans to reverse automatic spending cuts that are scheduled to take effect later this year.

Click to expand...