BREMERTON, Wash. –
USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) entered Dry dock 6 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Wash., Sept. 10, 2021, to begin the docking portion of a 16.4-month Docking Planned Incremental Availability.
According to Brian McDermott, project superintendent, Code 371, Roosevelt Project, this DPIA will prepare the ship for combat air operations well into the future.
“The ship will be made ready to launch and recover F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, along with more than 300 modernization items that will upgrade and improve the ship’s combat systems,” McDermott said. “Team Roosevelt will also complete key habitability upgrades for the crew.”
He said several key pre-availability tests were completed along with setting propulsion plant conditions for maintenance, while the ship was pier side.
“The ship’s shafts and propellers needed to be positioned correctly prior to entering the dry dock, McDermott said. “The ship’s anchors and chains were also removed so they could be preserved.”
Tank preservation and propulsion upgrades will be also installed during the ship’s first docking since its mid-life Refueling Complex Overhaul. McDermott said lessons learned from the USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) Fiscal Year 2019 DPIA should help contribute to the success of Roosevelt’s availability.
“We have taken many lessons learned from that project and applied them to ours, including key equipment upgrades, better sequencing of work that will shorten the availability and save money,” McDermott said. “We have contingency plans built for conditions that we found on USS Carl Vinson that we could see on USS Theodore Roosevelt. We also have an improved integration plan with our contracting partners to efficiently get the entire underwater hull, shafting and rudder work and tank preservation done simultaneously.”
McDermott said effective planning and communication with the ship’s force and the contractor partners on Team Roosevelt will be key to a successful availability.
“The project team is made up of PSNS & IMF employees, ship’s force and our contracting partners from all over the country” he said. “We have to work together to integrate all of our work seamlessly into one schedule so everything gets done when it needs to get done, so we can deliver the ship on time.
“The relationship with ship’s force is vital to the success of availability,” McDermott said. “We have to keep the sacrifices that the crew has made in protecting our country front and center as we build a strong working relationship with them to successfully deliver USS Theodore Roosevelt back to the fleet on time, with the highest quality of work possible.”
Roosevelt arrived at Pier Delta on Naval Base Kitsap, Washington, July 22, 2021, and will be homeported in Bremerton for two years. The ship was stationed in San Diego prior to its move here.