US Navy plans to complete USS Gerald R. Ford maintenance in six months
In Norfolk, United States, the Navy plans to complete scheduled maintenance and modernization of the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier in six months, despite its lengthy deployment and a fire aboard in March. Breaking Defense reports, citing the head of Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Rear Adm. Kavo Hakimzadeh.
Separate work after the fire
In July, the aircraft carrier began scheduled maintenance and modernization at Norfolk Naval Shipyard. At the same time, the US Navy organized a separate work cycle to repair damage caused by the fire that occurred in March.
According to Hakimzadeh, the scheduled maintenance was initially expected to last 10 months, but he promised the fleet commander to reduce this period to six months. The post-fire work is overseen by the regional maintenance center with the involvement of a commercial contractor. The rear admiral expects the ship to be returned to the fleet within the six-month period, although additional final work for the crew may be needed at the end.
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Record deployment
USS Gerald R. Ford returned to Naval Station Norfolk in May after 326 days at sea. According to the USNI News database, this was the longest deployment of a US aircraft carrier since the Vietnam War. The previous record belonged to USS Abraham Lincoln, which spent 294 days at sea in 2019–2020.
During the deployment, Ford operated in the US Southern Command area of responsibility and later supported operations in the Middle East, including Operation Epic Fury, together with USS Abraham Lincoln. In May, acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao told lawmakers that every additional 30 days of deployment increases the maintenance workload by 6%.
Scheduled maintenance for aircraft carriers usually lasts from six to eight months. The US Navy had previously not released a detailed work schedule for USS Gerald R. Ford.
