The Massive Work That Goes Into Remodeling an Old Aircraft Carrier

Aircraft carriers are complicated. They’re floating cities and mobile airbases, housing thousands of sailors and airmen, tens of aircraft, multiple nuclear reactors, and their own hospitals, barbershops, chapels, and zip codes. Carriers support defense and humanitarian efforts worldwide and can travel upwards of 100,000 nautical miles each year. Each United States aircraft carrier—there are 10 in active service—is designed to last 50 years. But the only way they get there is with a massive remodeling effort conducted once in the middle of its lifespan to update its technology and infrastructure.

Because “remodeling” is a term more often applied to home kitchens and bathrooms, the multi-year, multi-billion dollar process of modernizing the ship and readying it for at least two more decades of service is called Refueling Complex Overhaul (RCOH).

US Navy sailors and shipyard workers work together to update, clean, and restore nearly every square foot of a carrier: They refuel the nuclear reactors, overhaul living spaces, replace catapult systems used to launch aircraft, and repaint the hull, among other things.

 Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Brenton Poyser/U.S. Navy

Four Nimitz-class aircraft carriers have completed their RCOH since 2001 and USS Abraham Lincoln, commissioned in 1989, is currently undergoing RCOH. During its active service, Lincoln was primarily stationed in the Persian Gulf, including a stint to support Operation Desert Storm in the early 1990s.

In 2013, the ship was placed in drydock in Newport News, Virginia, the same shipyard that laid down its keel in 1984. “We have dozens of shipbuilders that worked on Lincoln during new construction 25 years ago who are working on the RCOH. These shipbuilders have a level of expertise and a bond with the ship that you cannot find anywhere else in the world,” says Bruce Easterson, construction director of Newport News Shipbuilding. 

With the help of 2,500 sailors and 3,000 shipyard workers, Lincoln is being methodically overhauled. “During USS Abraham Lincoln’s 44-month RCOH, virtually every space will be touched as the crew, contractors, and the shipyard together pour more than 25 million man hours into our ship,” remarks Captain Ron Ravelo, commanding officer of Lincoln. “The overhaul of USS Abraham Lincoln is nearly 50 percent complete and remains on track for delivery in October 2016 with a fully trained and tested crew,” according to Ravelo.

“We painted the entire hull, replaced the ship’s shafting and propellers, and refueled the ship’s reactors while in drydock,” explains Easterson. Lincoln’s water-tight doors got a full cleaning, rust removal, and new powder coat paint job before being returned to the ship. In October 2014, workers unexpectedly found that one of Lincoln’s two 30-ton anchors needed to be replaced. A perfect donor anchor was found just a few hundred yards away, from the USS Enterprise, the Navy’s first nuclear carrier deactivated in 2012 and destined for the scrap yard.

“After Lincoln successfully undocked from Newport News Shipbuilding in November 2014, the ship symbolically transitioned from the “rip-out” phase to the “rebuilding” phase,” explains Captain Ravelo. The ship’s living quarters are currently being updated and retrofitted, and the crew will move aboard by May 2016. There’s at least one unexpected bonus for the sailors doing the dirty work, says airman Ehren Bass. “An upside to this job is that it allows you to explore the ship.”