Navy Accepts Delivery of USS Ronald Reagan

[Eagle3]

Navy Accepts Delivery of Ronald Reagan
by Program Executive Office for Aircraft Carriers Public Affairs
Navy News Service
June 20, 2003

WASHINGTON -- The Navy accepted delivery of the newest aircraft carrier, PCU Ronald Reagan (CVN 76), June 20. The ship design and construction was executed under a contract awarded to Northrop Grumman Newport News (NGNN) in December 1994.

Reagan’s first deployment is scheduled for 2005 from her San Diego homeport, which is home to two other U.S. aircraft carriers.

Reagan is the ninth of the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers. Expected to be in service for 50 years, Reagan will carry out our nation’s tasking in both peacetime and in times of crisis. Its nuclear propulsion plant will power the ship for more than 20 years without refueling, providing virtually unlimited range and endurance, and a top speed in excess of 30 knots.

Reagan towers 20 stories above the waterline, and at 1,092 feet long, is nearly as long as the Empire State Building is tall. The ship displaces approximately 97,000 tons of water and has a 4.5-acre flight deck. The carrier will serve as home to approximately 6,000 Sailors and 80 plus combat aircraft.

The ship's four catapults and three arresting gear engines enable rapid and simultaneous launch and recovery of aircraft. Catapults thrust 60,000 pound aircraft 300 feet, from zero to 165 miles per hour in two seconds, while arresting cables are able to bring a planes traveling in at 150 mile per hour to a complete stop in about 320 feet. The ship will carry approximately three million gallons of fuel for its aircraft and escorts, and enough weapons and stores for extended operations without replenishment.

Design improvements include a completely redesigned island, integrated ship systems with increased capacity to support future upgrades and improved facilities for female personnel. In addition, Reagan has extensive repair capabilities, including a fully equipped Aircraft Intermediate Maintenance Department, a micro-miniature electronics repair shop and numerous ship repair shops. The ship is equipped with a fiber optic based network for improved communication and machinery monitoring.

CVN 76 was christened March 4, 2001, by its sponsor, Nancy Reagan. Vice President Dick Cheney will join Mrs. Reagan in the commissioning of Ronald Reagan July 12.

LINK (http://www.military.com/NewsContent?file=usn3_062003&ESRC=navy.nl)

[Billntwrk]

For those interested. The Regan is expected to makes it's way to San Diego sometime this summer. She will be home ported here, at NAS North Island.

[Eagle3]

Not good at all...

By Seth Hettena
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN DIEGO – The Navy has punished two officers and two sailors in the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan's reactor department, including the captain in charge, for a series of events under their watch that included the accidental death of a sailor and a generator mishap that led to costly repairs and delays.

The events did not involve the twin nuclear reactors on the Reagan, but are an embarrassment for the Navy's newest carrier, which is undergoing repairs as it awaits its first-ever deployment.

Commanders took action following a review of events earlier this year in the ship's steam and electrical plants. On the Reagan and other Nimitz-class carriers, reactors boil water into steam that enables the carrier to power its propellers, generate electricity and fling planes off the deck via a steam-powered catapult.

In January, Petty Officer Benjamen Farrell, 26, of Maplewood, Minn., was disassembling a valve in the carrier's steam plant when he was hit by scalding water, according to the Navy. The machinist's mate suffered second- and third-degree burns over 70 percent of his body and died a short time later. At the time, the ship was en route to Hawaii, but it reversed course and returned to its homeport in Coronado, outside San Diego.

.....

In February, one of the ship's generators was damaged beyond repair by an incorrect lineup of electrical power. Chief Petty Officer Ray Mooney, a spokesman for the Naval Air Forces, was unable to provide more details. Nuclear industry experts said these events are very rare, but can occur when the crew brings online a generator that is completely out of synch with the others.

Replacing the generator, a huge and heavy piece of machinery, required a section of the ship to be cut away. The repair will cost $7.2 million and take nine weeks, delaying pre-deployment training that was supposed to be underway already, Mooney said.

Rear Adm. Robert J. Cox, who commands the strike group that includes the Reagan, summoned the captain in charge of the reactor department, a lieutenant and two sailors for non-judicial punishment hearings in March, Mooney said.

......

Complete Article (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20050505-1156-ca-ussreagan.html)

[Rander]

Not good at all...

By Seth Hettena
ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAN DIEGO – The Navy has punished two officers and two sailors in the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan's reactor department, including the captain in charge, for a series of events under their watch that included the accidental death of a sailor and a generator mishap that led to costly repairs and delays.

The events did not involve the twin nuclear reactors on the Reagan, but are an embarrassment for the Navy's newest carrier, which is undergoing repairs as it awaits its first-ever deployment.

Commanders took action following a review of events earlier this year in the ship's steam and electrical plants. On the Reagan and other Nimitz-class carriers, reactors boil water into steam that enables the carrier to power its propellers, generate electricity and fling planes off the deck via a steam-powered catapult.

In January, Petty Officer Benjamen Farrell, 26, of Maplewood, Minn., was disassembling a valve in the carrier's steam plant when he was hit by scalding water, according to the Navy. The machinist's mate suffered second- and third-degree burns over 70 percent of his body and died a short time later. At the time, the ship was en route to Hawaii, but it reversed course and returned to its homeport in Coronado, outside San Diego.

.....

In February, one of the ship's generators was damaged beyond repair by an incorrect lineup of electrical power. Chief Petty Officer Ray Mooney, a spokesman for the Naval Air Forces, was unable to provide more details. Nuclear industry experts said these events are very rare, but can occur when the crew brings online a generator that is completely out of synch with the others.

Replacing the generator, a huge and heavy piece of machinery, required a section of the ship to be cut away. The repair will cost $7.2 million and take nine weeks, delaying pre-deployment training that was supposed to be underway already, Mooney said.

Rear Adm. Robert J. Cox, who commands the strike group that includes the Reagan, summoned the captain in charge of the reactor department, a lieutenant and two sailors for non-judicial punishment hearings in March, Mooney said.

......

Complete Article (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20050505-1156-ca-ussreagan.html)


Dam Eagle beat me to the drew on this story. :Poke: I did report the generator incident in another section of this forum :thumbsup: