HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding was awarded a $913 million contract for the advanced procurement for the mid-life overhaul and nuclear refueling of carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), the Pentagon announced on Thursday.
Truman’s refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) will be a down-to-the-bulkhead refit of the 25-year-old carrier and will also top off the carrier’s two nuclear reactors.
“The contract, which has total potential value of $913 million, includes engineering, design, material procurement and fabrication, documentation, resource forecasting and pre-overhaul inspections,” reads a statement from HII provided to USNI News.
According to the contract announcement, the advanced procurement work is set to be completed in 2026.
The announcement did not set a time frame for Truman to arrive at Newport News. RCOHs account for about a third of the Newport News’ business with the other two-thirds focused on new construction carriers and submarines.
Truman returned from a nine-month-long deployment to the Atlantic and Eastern Mediterranean on Sept. 12, 2022.
As part of its Fiscal Year 2020 budget proposal, the Pentagon proposed to decommission Truman and buy two new Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carriers. Then acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan defended canceling Truman’s RCOH as a cost savings of $3.4 billion.
“We want to make sure that not only the shipyards maintain their employment, there’s actually growth, but also [growth in] the supply chain. The last is the funds that we freed up making these decisions are invested in the future force,” he told the Senate at the time.
Congress rejected the proposal and approved the both twin carrier buy and Truman’s refueling.
Currently, USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) is at the yard undergoing its own RCOH. USS George Washington (CVN-73) completed its own RCOH last year.
GW suffered two years of unplanned extensions in part due to COVID-19 workforce shortfalls and unplanned work related to GW’s overhaul schedule when the carrier served in Yokosuka, Japan, service officials have told USNI News. The extended overhaul exposed major quality-of-life problems for sailors who were living on the carrier during the maintenance period. Nine sailors assigned to the carrier died by suicide, prompting the quality of life investigation.
The following is the complete contract announcement.
Huntington Ingalls Inc., Newport News, Virginia, was awarded a $913,150,550 cost-plus-incentive-fee and cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for advanced planning and long-lead-time material procurement to prepare and make ready for the accomplishment of the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) Refueling and Complex Overhaul. Work will be performed in Newport News, Virginia and is expected to be completed by June 2026. Fiscal 2023 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy) funds in the amount of $250,000,000 will be obligated at time of award and will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured in accordance with 10 U.S. Code 3204(a)(1), (only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements). The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity (N00024-24-C-2106). (Awarded Jan. 25, 2024)
