Overview
- The carrier completed sea trials ahead of schedule, closing a Planned Incremental Availability at Norfolk Naval Shipyard and moving closer to return to fleet duty.
- More than 4,000 people worked on the project each day, delivering over 25,000 resource days of new work and saving about 2,000 through tighter planning and execution.
- Work continued pier-side during a dry dock renovation as teams completed first-time tasks such as installing a main seawater valve while afloat and inspecting underwater shafting and catapult troughs.
- Project leaders called the early delivery a national security imperative given global demand for carriers, and the yard marked a second straight on-time carrier turnaround after USS George H. W. Bush in November 2024.
- A minor fire during the maintenance period injured sailors who have returned to duty, underscoring the risks of deep repair work that keeps the 1977-commissioned ship on track for continued service.