The US Navy has awarded a contract to Huntington Ingalls Industries‘ (HII) Newport News Shipbuilding division for advance planning of the defuelling work on the forward-deployed Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George Washington (CVN 73).
Under the $49.6m cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, Newport News will provide advanced planning, ship checks, design, documentation, engineering, procurement, fabrication and preliminary shipyard or support facility work to prepare for the defuelling work on the aircraft carrier.
Newport News Shipbuilding in-service aircraft carrier programmes vice-president Chris Miner said: "We are pleased to be able to begin planning for the defuelling of CVN 73."
The aircraft carrier has been designed to provide a combat-ready force to protect and defend the collective maritime interest of the US and its allies and partners in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.
Expected to be completed by July 2015, work under the contract will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, US. The US Naval Sea Systems Command will serve as the contracting activity.
The USS George Washington is the US Navy’s fourth ship to be named after the country’s first president and the sixth Nimitz-class carrier constructed by Newport News.
Capable of accommodating more than 6,000 personnel, the 317m-long vessel has a maximum cruise speed of more than 30k and is armed with Raytheon GMLS Mk29 eight-cell launchers for Nato Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles.
Furthermore, the ship is equipped with a Raytheon AN/SLQ-32(V) electronic warfare system, 20mm Phalanx six-barrelled Mk15 close-in weapon system and Sippican super-rapid bloom off-board chaff (SRBOC) six-barrelled Mk36 decoy launchers.
Image: An MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter landing aboard USS George Washington (CVN 73). Photo: courtesy of the US Navy, photo by mass communication specialist seaman Chris Cavagnaro / released.
