A Navy Aircraft Carrier Will Be Out of Action for Over 5 Years

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Key Points: The aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis is undergoing a five-and-a-half-year refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH), extending 14 months beyond schedule and costing billions.

-Workforce shortages, delays from the USS George Washington’s RCOH, and the pandemic have hindered progress, with only 65% of work completed.

-While the Navy promises the most advanced Nimitz-class carrier post-RCOH, the lengthy delays—compared to shorter timelines for earlier carriers like the USS Nimitz—highlight inefficiencies.

-Quality-of-life issues for sailors and workforce challenges at HII-Newport News Shipbuilding compound problems, impacting Navy readiness as adversaries expand their naval power.

USS John C. Stennis Aircraft Carrier Delays: What’s Behind the Five-Year Refit?

While China continues to add to its aircraft carrier fleet to bully its neighbors and enforce territorial claims in East Asia, the United States has failed to keep all of its carriers in the water. 

Look at the USS John C. Stennis, the seventh Nimitz-class flat-top. It is undergoing a midlife overhaul and refueling that will take five and a half years to complete. 

This is unacceptable. 

How could such a maintenance activity take this long?

Let’s examine why the John C. Stennis has been out of action and how the delayed work period is negatively affecting the U.S. Navy’s force posture.

Maintenance is “Complex”

The overhaul and refueling for the Stennis will last 14 more months than planned and cost billions of dollars. 

The Navy calls this maintenance period a refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH). It was supposed to be done in August of this year, but now that delivery date is being pushed to October 2026. 

It Took a While for the USS George Washington Too

This has been caused by previous delays to the RCOH of the USS George Washington, the country’s sixth Nimitz-class nuclear-powered carrier. 

The COVID-19 pandemic caused workforce availability to suffer and supply chains to snarl. George Washington completed the RCOH in May 2023, and then attention was finally focused on John C. Stennis.

Aircraft Carrier John C. Stennis Is Only 65 Percent Complete

One promising development about the Stennis is that it left dry dock for delivery to the outfitting birth in July of this year under the watchful eyes of workers at HII-Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS) in Newport News, Virginia. 

But it is still only 65 percent complete with the RCOH. The original contract with NNS was worth $3 billion.

Modern aircraft carriers have a 50-year lifespan. Midway through this period, they require “upgrades to propulsion equipment, infrastructure and electronic systems,” according to a Navy news release.

The Extra Work Time Should Be Worth It

Rear Admiral Casey J. Moton, the commander of the Program Executive Office for Aircraft Carriers, optimistically explained the final goal. “When John C. Stennis redelivers, she’ll be the most technologically advanced Nimitz-class aircraft carrier in the Navy,” Moton said. “She’ll bring to the fleet the highest level of capability across all mission sets.”   

Moton blamed the delays on the shipyard workforce, which doesn’t have enough employees to expedite the work. HII-Newport News is having trouble recruiting and retaining skilled workers. 

Despite these challenges, the Navy believes it performs work on the RCOH as quickly as possible.

Delays Have Become Worse Over the Last Two Decades

However, the delays impede the Navy’s readiness and have worsened over time. In 2001, it took the USS Nimitz carrier only 1,129 days to complete its RCOH. The mid-life maintenance period for George Washington lasted 2,120 days. That’s almost an 88 percent increase. So far, the Stennis has taken 1,990 days.

One problem has been quality of life issues with the crew. Some sailors working on the refit for George Washington committed suicide because the living conditions were so bad while they were working. After an investigation, the Navy was forced to allow the sailors to live in better housing off the ship. 

USNI News said there was a “lack of parking, adequate housing and other amenities, like reliable Wi-Fi and healthy food options.” The investigation “concluded sailors on The George Washington had the toughest living standards in the U.S. military.”

The difficulties with the George Washington caused delays in the Stennis RCOH, as the Navy had to scramble to solve the quality-of-life concerns for the sailors. The George Washington RCOH took 26 million man-hours of work.

The Navy is making a significant number of excuses for the time it takes to conduct an RCOH. It doesn’t make sense that the mid-life maintenance period for the Nimitz took so much less time. You would think that in 24 years the Navy would have solved many of the issues that crop up during an RCOH. 

What Happens Next for These Aircraft Carriers? 

Of course, no one could have predicted the pandemic, and those delays are understandable. Still, the Navy must work closer with HII to create an environment with fewer workforce shortages. This could mean providing more resources and ideas to the shipbuilder to incentivize the workers to “live, work, and stay” near the RCOH job site without so much turnover. 

Five and a half years is too long for a re-fit, and it allows the nation’s adversaries to have a leg-up on the Navy’s operational readiness.

About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood 

Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare, plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.