USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier returned to US Navy

The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier has been redelivered  to the US Navy by Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII).

The vessel has been redelivered after successfully completing sea trials, which were carried out to validate its on-board systems.

The trials followed the ship’s refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH), which was conducted at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division.

Newport News In-service Aircraft Carrier Programmes Vice President Chris Miner said: “The successful completion of sea trials and redelivery of the ship to the navy is the culmination of over 48 months of teamwork between Newport News shipbuilders, the CVN 72 crew, our government partners and all of our suppliers.

“The completion of the RCOH returns a fully recapitalized ship to the fleet, ready to support any mission and serve our nation for another 25 years.”

The trials saw a team comprising of sailors, shipbuilders and government representatives put the aircraft carrier through a series of tests designed to demonstrate the vessel’s system performance and sea-based capabilities.

They also assessed its operational capabilities at sea, including high-speed operations.

USS Abraham Lincoln commanding officer captain Ronald Ravelo said: “Every sailor, shipyard worker and contractor involved with RCOH and redelivery should be standing tall as we bring this mighty warship back home to Norfolk and put her back into service for the US Navy.

“The completion of the RCOH returns a fully recapitalized ship to the fleet, ready to support any mission and serve our nation for another 25 years.”

“Getting Lincoln back into the fight was truly an all-hands effort, and I could not be more proud of the crew who helped make that happen.”

The RCOH process involves upgrading almost every space and system on the vessel and is to be performed only once during the carrier’s 50-year lifecycle.

USS George Washington (CVN 73) is currently the next US Navy aircraft carrier scheduled to undergo RCOH.

Preparations for the overhaul are currently underway at Naval Station Norfolk, while the vessel is slated to arrive at Newport News in the next few months.