Carrier awaits a call to come to life in ceremony today

NORFOLK

It's been nearly eight years since the paperwork was signed, and the George H.W. Bush is poised to become a warship.

The carrier, the 10th and last of the Nimitz class, will be commissioned this morning at Norfolk Naval Station.

Both Presidents Bush will be on hand, along with a host of military and political leaders and 18,000 other spectators.

As part of the ceremony, the ship will be "brought to life," with all the crew thundering aboard to take their places on deck. They're ready.

"Everybody likes a new ship," said Petty Officer 1st Class Jason Luckenwitz, a damage controlman who has spent the past three years helping train the ship's on-board firefighters. "It's like buying a new car. Everybody's ready to get under way."

The ship will be granted a special commissioning status Saturday, because it still has to complete sea trials. It will be homeported initially in Norfolk. Its permanent home is up for debate, with Norfolk and Mayport, Fla., vying for the honor.

In building the Bush, the shipbuilder, Northrop Grumman Newport News, added a number of upgrades over the previous carrier, the Ronald Reagan, including changes in sanitation, propellers, elevators, compressors and electric plant controls. Many other changes are small but significant.

On the ship's bridge, for example, Senior Chief Petty Officer Perry Everix showed a computer housing the ship's electronic charting display system.

The Bush will be the first carrier to rely primarily on a computer-based platform - which automatically accounts for winds and currents - instead of the paper charts ships traditionally have used.

With 21 years in the Navy, Everix said, he's a little nervous about the switch, but ready to give it a try.

Below, Ensign Dianna Morgan, an air traffic control officer, showed off a visual display board that allows people around the ship to know where airborne planes are in relation to the carrier during flight operations.

In a room nearby, Chief Petty Officer Fredrick Patton pointed to a computer display that helps control steam that powers one of the ship's four plane-launching catapults. This upgrade comes with an electronic wind indicator that helps the crew calibrate their machines.

One thing that hasn't changed is the ship's "Ouija board," a scale replica of the carrier deck that keeps track of each plane's location and status.

Pins in the small plane models indicate whether they need fuel, maintenance or repairs.

Petty Officer 1st Class Franklin Santiago said the Navy is experimenting with an electronic version of the board, but that the current model "is the easiest, simplest way to do this."

If the ship lost power to an electronic version, he said, all the information would be lost and air operations could be affected.

"Low-tech is best," he repeated. "Our kids could come in and do it."

While today's ceremony is an important event, there's still lots left to be done.

"As soon as we get the bunting and visitors off the ship, we'll get back to work," said Capt. Kevin O'Flaherty, the ship's commanding officer.

Sea trials will follow in the coming weeks, he said, as the Navy gets closer to taking formal delivery of the ship.

As this long process continues, the spirit of the sailors has yet to flag. Airman Demetryi Gupton, who's been in the Navy for six months and onboard for three, summed it up.

"I'm part of something that few people get to be a part of," he said over lunch. His fellow aviation ordnanceman, Airman Rubi Marte, agreed.

"It sounds corny, but it's the truth," she said.

Their ultimate boss, Command Master Chief J.D. Port, said that as the ship's historian, he has done his best to instill a sense of pride in his sailors, making sure "everyone has had a sense of who our namesake was."

This is helped by the ship's tribute room, which highlights the former president's World War II naval career, when he flow torpedo bombers off the carrier San Jacinto.

Included among the photos and statuary is a letter from Vice Adm. John S. McCain, the senator's grandfather, awarding Bush the Distinguished Flying Cross for his role in a bombing mission over the Pacific island of Chichi Jima in September 1944.

Nearby, in the hangar bay stands a larger-than-life statue of a young Bush in his flight suit.

"We have a feeling that this is our grandfather," Port said.

George H.W. Bush returned the compliment.

After touring the ship for several hours on Thursday, he was back late Friday afternoon, making his way slowly down the pier with O'Flaherty.

"I'm feeling very excited, unbelievable, very emotional," the former president told a group of reporters, "very proud of the kids on this ship."

Matthew Jones, (757) 446-2949, matthew.jones@pilotonline.com