PHOTOS BY TONY ANDERSON • NNSY PHOTOGRAPHER
USS GEORGE H. W. BUSH ARRIVES FOR AVAILABILITY By ANNA TAYLOR • PUBLIC AFFAIRS SPECIALIST Less than one month after the departure of USS Harry S Truman (CVN-75), Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) welcomed another vital member of the fleet. USS George H. W. Bush (CVN-77) arrived at the shipyard June 16 for an extended Planned Incremental Availability (PIA). Maintenance on Bush will total roughly 315,000 mandays, 27,000 of which are to be completed by Huntington Ingalls Newport News Shipbuilding and Multi-Ship Multi-Option (MSMO) contractors. The availability is scheduled to last eight months and one week, which is quite a bit longer than the normal six-month PIA, largely due to critical path work on the Vacuum Collection Holding Tanks (VCHT). “We’ve got a lot of guys coming to help us,” said Jeff Burchett, Deputy Project Superintendent. “It’s going to be a real joint effort.” Captain Andrew Loiselle, the commanding officer of Bush, said one of his
priorities is making sure everyone is working toward the same goal. "Our ship has accomplished some great things these past two years, and this crew has done some truly impressive work,” said Loiselle. “From the ship’s perspective, we are all looking for a win out of this project, and I know the shipyard is as well. This maintenance period will be critical to the future readiness of our ship and will be essential to accomplishing the Navy’s mission.” In addition to the VCHT upgrades, the work package includes installing two new sponsons, platforms extending from the hull of the ship to house the carrier’s CloseIn Weapons System (CIWS, “pronounced sea-whiz”). Burchett describes the CIWS, a six-barreled, computer-controlled, radarguided system, as a Gatling gun disguised as R2-D2 from the Star Wars franchise. It’s an important self-defense system made to detect and destroy short-range incoming
missiles. The sponsons will be fabricated by a contractor and then mounted using a floating crane. Bush will be pierside, and the sponsons will be installed while the ship is in the water, something that has never been done before. Because NNSY will be working so closely with contractors and ship’s force, the project team has been busy ensuring schedules are integrated and key events and milestones are met, something they plan to continue throughout the availability. “We’re one team,” said Burchett. “The contractors and ship’s force attend our meetings. They’re a part of everything. We like to approach this not as an ‘us and them,’ but as a ‘we.’” “We are taking the ‘Brilliant on the Basics’ command philosophy to a project level,” said Matt Merciez, Project Superintendent. “We’re investing in a lot of training. We’re focusing on pulling the work to the left instead of letting it slip to
We know what works: FREEDOM WORKS. We know what is right: FREEDOM IS RIGHT. - George H. W. Bush 41st President of the United States 16 • SERVICE TO THE FLEET • JULY 2015