Notorious Navy Carrier Sets Out After A Scandal-Plagued Six Years In The Shipyard

[nitpicked]

Notorious Navy Carrier Sets Out After A Scandal-Plagued Six Years In The Shipyard

The USS George Washington set out for testing Monday after six years at the shipyard, during which the ship’s leadership failed to address quality of life issues for the assigned crew that may have contributed to a spate of suicides, according to U.S. Naval Institute News.

The aircraft carrier began a mid-life refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) initially scheduled to last four years, but pandemic-related worker suspensions, funding delays and an unusual maintenance schedule tied the ship to the yard for an additional two years, according to USNI News. The ship’s nearing completion of the RCOH comes days after the U.S. Navy found it failed to adequately address rampant quality of life and mental health problems among the vessel’s crew, contributing to the deaths of nine sailors.
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The report, released Thursday, found that junior sailors on board the carrier dealt with one of the the most difficult living environments in the military, including hourslong commutes, isolation and working conditions that resembled a permanent construction zone. Meanwhile, a special team designed to monitor the climate among crew members did not function properly, and the ship’s on-board psychologist was consistently overwhelmed.
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“Factors that extended the RCOH included delays and changes in her RCOH planning and induction timeline due to FY15 budgetary decisions to inactivate (vice refuel) this ship; the arrival condition of the ship, which was more challenging than expected, planned or budgeted for, including growth work in significant areas of the RCOH; the requirement to remove critical parts from CVN-73 [the USS George Washington] to support higher-priority, deploying aircraft carriers; and the impact of COVID-19 on the workforce and industrial base,” Huntington Ingalls Industries, the shipbuilder performing the repairs, told USNI News.
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[Ray Bruns]

1. including hourslong commutes, isolation and working conditions that resembled a

permanent construction zone.”


I spent five years in the Navy and two yard periods on two ships. That sounds like a typical yard period to me.
Being in a shipyard during an availability sucks. It’s noisy, dirty, and there is repair work going on everywhere.

And the only people complaining about the commute in Hampton Roads are the people who decide to live in Virginia Beach and have to commute through one of the two tunnels.