'Big Stick' heads home for an extreme makeover

The USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) is on the way home for a once-in-a-lifetime makeover. Northrop Grumman will refuel, repair, and modernize the Nimitz-class carrier over the next three and a half years with a $2.4 billion budget.

Jim Hughes, vice president of aircraft carrier overhauls and carrier fleet support for Northrop, told the Federal Drive once the refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) is complete, the "Big Stick" will be good to go for another 23 years. Those, combined with the 23 years she's been in service and the refueling, means a 50-year life span for the carrier.

Hughes says the plan is to upgrade "a number of systems to current state of the art technology so that when the ship leaves it'll be actually be as capable and compatible as the newest aircraft carriers we've delivered to the fleet."

The biggest upgrades, says Hughes, will be to the electronics suite, combat systems, and the propeller.

Weighing in at over 60,000 pounds and 21 feet in diameter, the four new propellers are a huge addition to the Roosevelt. "We move (them) with cranes," Hughes noted dryly.

While the job is huge, so is the affection Hughes and others feel for the ship.

Many of the people who will work on this ship, including me, worked on it during new construction when it was delivered to the Navy, and so we take a lot of pride in the ships themselves when they go into the fleet. When they come back in, we take a lot of pride making sure that they are right and that they're going to do the mission that they're intended to do and support our sailors who are out there defending the country. We absolutely have a lot of ownership in the product and there are some people that go to the extreme that they think they own the ship and we just lend it to the Navy for 50 years.

During the RCOH, Northrop will refuel the ship's twin nuclear reactors and perform a complete restoration of the rest of the ship, including making repairs to more than 2,300 compartments, 600 tanks and hundreds of systems.

In addition, major upgrades will be made to the flight deck, catapults, combat systems and the island. The carrier is scheduled to arrive at the shipyard this month, according to a company press release.

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On the Web:

USS Theodore Roosevelt - homepage

Northrop Grumman - Northrop Grumman Awarded $2.4 Billion Contract for USS Theodore Roosevelt Refueling and Complex Overhaul (press release)

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