After many issues, the Enterprise is ready for battle

NORFOLK

After a laborious two-year overhaul beset by delays, cost overruns and unforeseen problems, Navy officials said Monday that the military's oldest nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is once again ready for war.

The 49-year-old Enterprise, which has been docked at Northrop Grumman's Newport News shipyard since April 2008, was originally slated to return to service six months ago. That plan changed after repair crews discovered damage and decay - from rotted pipes to fried electronics - far beyond what they'd anticipated.

As the list of repairs grew, so did costs, to nearly $700 million from an initial estimate of $450 million.

That's led critics to question whether the money was worth it: The Navy plans to deploy the Big E just two more times before decommissioning the carrier in 2013.

On Monday, as the ship pulled into Norfolk Naval Station after its first post-overhaul sea test, officials with Northrop Grumman acknowledged that its journey back to service was a frustrating one.

"There were points when it seemed like it wasn't going to end because we just kept finding more and more damage," said Dan Klemencic, one of two Northrop Grumman directors assigned to the overhaul. "We had to find the right mix of 'fix it' or 'live with it.' "

In addition to anticipated repairs to the carrier's hull, nuclear reactors, catapults and aviation fuel system, Klemencic said crews discovered damaged valves, ruptured pipes, rotten steel and degraded pumps. "In some places the calcium buildup was the only thing holding the pipes together," he said. "There were a few times when we pulled tile up to find holes in the floor underneath."

Repair crews replaced a significant portion of the ship's electrical wiring and touched nearly every part of its propulsion system, said Jim Hughes, a vice president with Northrop Grumman who oversees the contractor's carrier overhaul program. "It's fair to say that it was a lot more work than anyone anticipated," he said.

Roughly half of the shipyard's 20,000 employees worked on the overhaul, Hughes added.

Even with that many hands, Klemencic said, the process was rushed. "The Navy is mandated to have so many carriers ready to go, and the schedules are tight," he said. "What we were hearing from the Navy was, 'We need it, we need it, we need it.' "

But he and others were careful to note that safety and quality weren't sacrificed. "The Navy wouldn't be pushing this ship out to sea if it wasn't ready," Klemencic said. "Any deficiency that we found, we addressed it."

In a news release announcing the Enterprise's return to its carrier fleet, the Navy said the ship performed well during the two-day sea test that ended Monday.

"USS Enterprise is as capable as ever," the ship's commanding officer, Capt. Ron Horton, said in an

e-mail. "Make no mistake: The crew of Enterprise is especially proud of the ship, her level of readiness, her legacy and her future."

The carrier is scheduled to spend the next several weeks completing its last certifications that are required to take on missions.

The Navy declined to say when the Enterprise might begin its first post-overhaul deployment.

Corinne Reilly (757) 446-2949, corinne.reilly@pilotonline.com