Sept. 11, 2002 the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) took over the watch. GW conducted one more deployment between 2002-2005, once again to the Persian Gulf, before entering an 11-month dry-dock PIA period.
During this PIA, many of the ship's systems were upgraded, work was done to the hull and the four jet blast deflectors were removed and upgraded to handle the increased heat from the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. GW's defensive weapons configurations were also altered, as one MK-15 Phalanx CIWS and one NATO Sea Sparrow Surface Missile System (NSSMS) were removed and replaced with two RAM launchers.
The reason behind adding the RAM in 2005 was to provide GW with a more robust, lightweight, fast reaction, high-firepower defensive system to counter incoming anti-ship capable missiles, helicopter and fixed-wing aircraft, and to engage and intercept surface craft, said Wilson.
On Dec. 1, 2005, the Navy announced that GW would be replacing the USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) as the forward-deployed carrier at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan, making it the first nuclear-powered surface warship permanently stationed outside the continental U.S.
I find the city very supportive of this move for George Washington, said then Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Mullen during a 2007 visit to Yokosuka. Japan is a vital ally in the Pacific and is very supportive of our forward-deployed presence over there.
In a ceremony held on Sept. 1, 2006, Capt. Garry White, GW's commanding officer at the time, was promoted to Rear Admiral, marking a rare occasion when a flag officer commanded a ship.
GW underwent one last PIA in September of 2006, in preparation of her homeport transfer to Yokosuka. During this PIA, work included the removal and replacement of the ship's radar mast and propeller screws, as well as the re-alignment of the Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department (AIMD).
Following this maintenance period, GW departed Norfolk April 7, 2008, for the transit around the horn of South America. On May 22, 2008, while in transit off the Pacific Coast of South America, a fire broke out in the ship™s air-conditioning and refrigeration space and an auxiliary boiler room. The fire spread throughout the ship via a cableway and ventilation ducting, causing extreme temperatures in some parts of the ship. It took 12-hours for the crew to contain and extinguish the fire, injuring 37 Sailors in the process.
We learned significant lessons from this fire in both shipboard fire prevention and firefighting, said Capt. Timothy Kuehhas, GW™s commanding officer. The Navy has incorporated these lessons fleet wide. They inspire Damage Control training evolutions like General Quarters to improve the crew™s response to any challenge with which they may be presented.
After the fire, GW made a stop in San Diego for repairs on May 27. On June 20, the Navy announced that the damage from the fire was more serious than expected, and that repairs would take at least until August and would cost $70 million.
The ship departed San Diego Aug. 21, 2008, and arrived at Yokosuka, Japan, Sept. 25, where several hundred local supporters and protestors greeted the crew.
More than 60 years ago a long and bitter struggle came to a close, said then-U.S. Ambassador to Japan, J. Thomas Schieffer. Neither of us could have imagined the event that we witnessed today"the forward-deployment of an American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, not to subjugate Japan but to defend Japan.
Throughout 2009, GW went underway in the Pacific and Indian Oceans several times and participated in different operations with allied navies, such as Operation Talisman Sabre off the coast of Australia's Northern Territory, and the Indonesian Fleet Review during Sail Bunaken in North Sulawesi, Indonesia.
2010 held a similar schedule, as the ship conducted numerous operations with the Republic of Korea's Navy and Air Force in the Sea of Japan and Yellow Sea off the coast of North Korea.
Following the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Fukushima, Japan, George Washington was ordered to leave her dock in Yokosuka, during a maintenance period, to avoid the possibility of being contaminated by the radioactive plume and assist in disaster relief efforts.
George Washington left Yokosuka, Japan March 21 as a precautionary measure to ensure sustained readiness in support of Japan, wrote Petty Officer 3rd Class Juan Manuel Pinalez, in a March 24, 2011 article published on Navy.mil.
During 2012 and 2013, GW partook in two deployments. During these deployments, the ship and her crew participated in several joint training exercises with other service branches and regional partners, conducted dual-carrier operations with the USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74) and provided humanitarian assistance in the Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan.
In January 2014, it was announced that USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) would replace GW during her RCOH period. This decision caused the first ever three-carrier hull swap and homeport change.
GW departed from Japan for the last time in May 2015 to participate in Exercise Talisman Sabre (ETS) 2015 with Australia and New Zealand. Following ETS, George Washington arrived in San Diego Aug. 10, and began a 10-day turnover period with the Reagan. After members of both crews swapped ships, GW left Southern California to travel around the Horn of South America and eventually dock in her new homeport of Naval Station Norfolk.
After her arrival in Norfolk and USS Theodore Roosevelt's (CVN 71) arrival in San Diego, crewmembers began flying across the U.S. to continue their sea service aboard either the TR or GW depending on where their families resided.
After a busy 2016 full of carrier qualifications, general quarter drills, an expected humanitarian assistance mission to Haiti and countless other mission requirements, GW concluded her last underway for at least four years, Dec. 17.
It has been a great honor to serve alongside the crew of George Washington, said Kuehhas. I am certain that USS George Washington will move forward safely and efficiently through her refueling and complex overhaul and continue to accomplish great things during the second-half of her life.
During the first half of her life, GW and her innumerable crewmembers have served under 12 commanding officers, consumed more than 150 million meals, and launched and recovered 184,149 aircraft.[/quote
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