Sea Trials for U.S. Carrier Carl Vinson
The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) returned to Norfolk, Va., on Wednesday after four days of sea trials – the flattop’s first taste of the open sea after more than three years in overhaul. The Vinson got underway June 28 from Northrop Grumman’s Newport News shipyard for the first set of trials to check out the ship’s refurbished systems. The trials are to be completed by July 11, according to the U.S. Navy.
The refueling overhaul takes place once in a nuclear-powered carrier’s life, which is scheduled to last up to 50 years. The Vinson was built at Newport News and commissioned in March 1982.
The carrier entered the shipyard in November 2005. The overhaul, which cost more than $3 billion, included refueling the ship’s two nuclear reactors, repairing and replacing ship systems and components, and updates to technology and other critical systems, according to the Naval Sea Systems Command. Virtually all of the ship’s 2,300 compartments were refurbished.
As a unit of the Pacific fleet, the Vinson was based before the overhaul at Bremerton, Wash. The Navy announced in March 2007 that the ship would likely shift its homeport to San Diego, which hosts the carriers Nimitz and Ronald Reagan.
Next up for a refueling overhaul is the Norfolk-based carrier Theodore Roosevelt, scheduled to enter Newport News by September. The carrier Abraham Lincoln, based at Everett, Wash., is to begin its refueling overhaul at Newport News in fiscal 2013.
The Vinson is a Nimitz class supercarrier named after Carl Vinson, a Congressman from Georgia. She was commissioned in 1982 and carries F/A-18 Hornets and F/A-18E/F Super Hornets as well as surveillance and other aircraft. The Vinson can carry 85 planes and 5,500 personnel.
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