San Diego-based shipbuilding company General Dynamics NASSCO
has been awarded a $33.7 million modification to a previously awarded contract
for repair and alterations to the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Nimitz, the US Navy
said Jan. 22.
This modification, according to the US Navy, is awarded
under the existing five-year contract for non-nuclear maintenance, repair and
alterations of CVN 68 and CVN 78 class ships. Exercise of the option authorizes
the first major industrial availability of the contract, which entails
modification and repair of equipment, hull and systems.
The USS Nimitz is scheduled to undergo
an “extended planned incremental availability,” which is military terminology
for an opportunity in a ship’s life cycle to conduct repairs and alterations.
The Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance
Facility in Bremerton, Washington, is the contracting activity for the work.
All labor on the ship is scheduled to be performed in Bremerton, Wash. and is
anticipated to be completed by June 2016, according to the Navy.
The USS Nimitz, which was commissioned
in May 1975, is one of 10 supercarriers used by the Navy. It is 1,092 feet
(332.8 meters) long, has a beam of 252 feet (76.8 meters) and can travel up to
31.5 knots. It has been homeported at Naval Station Everett since 2012.
