Newport News Shipbuilding wins USD 913 million RCOH of USS Harry S. Truman

The US Navy’s Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) is set to undergo a major refuelling and complex overhaul (RCOH), with the work being undertaken at the shipyard that built the vessel, Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS), in Virginia.

NNS has been awarded an advanced planning contract for the RCOH, which has a total potential value of USD 913 million. The advanced planning contract involves engineering, design, materials procurement and fabrication documentation, resource forecasting and pre-overhaul inspections.

USS Harry S. Truman was delivered to the US Navy in 1998 and will be the eighth Nimitz-class carrier to undergo RCOH, representing 35% of all maintenance and modernisation to be completed during the vessel’s expected service life of 50 years.

In 2019, the US Navy had plans to decommission this aircraft carrier earlier than planned and cut the carrier fleet to just ten vessels. Needless to say, this plan did not go down well on Capitol Hill.

No dates have been given for the start and completion of USS Harry S. Truman’s RCOH, but such jobs typically take around four years to complete. NNS is currently nearing the completion of the RCOH of sister ship USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), which arrived in the shipyard in May 2021, with work expected to be completed in 2025.

A successful RCOH will give an aircraft carrier a further 25 years of service life.