U.S. Navy
CVN-76:
BEYOND VIRGINIA
The USS George Washington (CVN 73), a Nimitz class aircraft carrier, at Newport News Shipbuilding.
The debate over CVN-76, the es-
timated $4.5 billion nuclear aircraft
carrier which would be built at New-
port News Shipbuilding (NNS) and
commissioned in the year 2002, has
moved from the U.S. House of Rep-
resentatives to the U.S. Senate.
Early indications point to the
Nimitz class aircraft carrier becom-
ing a reality, heartening news to
many suppliers which have seen
once bread-and-butter U.S. Navy
business dwindle steadily.
CVN-76 is part of the FY '95 De-
fense Authorization Bill, dubbed HR
4301 in the House. The House ver-
sion calls for $3.6 billion for the
project from the FY '95 budget.
However, one influential senator
sought immediately to push that
schedule even harder.
Senator Charles S. Robb (D-
Va.) immediately offered an amend-
ment to restore full funding for CVN-
76. Sen. Robb was pushing to have
the Armed Services Committee sub-
committee authorize $1.2 billion for
CVN-76 from FY '94 defense funds,
and the remainder of the money —
$2.4 billion — from FY '95 funds.
"CVN-76 is key to the Navy's fu-
ture plans for the defense of the
country," Sen. Robb said. "And it is
also essential to Virginia's economic
future, particularly to the Penin-
sula and Newport News Shipbuild-
ing." Sen. Robb offered the amend-
ment in the Regional Defense and
Contingency Forces Subcommittee
mark-up.
While it's logical to reason why
state legislators stand squarely be-
hind the CVN-76 project, they by no
means constitute the only support
CVN-76 Suppliers
Company Location Product
Bethlehem Steel Bethlehem, Pa. Steel Plate
General Electric Fitchburg, Mass. Main Propulsion
Units
Hopeman Bros. Waynesburg, Va. Furniture
Ingersoll-Dresser Phillipsburg, N.J. Pumps
Pump
Jered Brown Brunswick, Ga. Elevators
Bros.
Lukens Steel Coatesville, Pa. Steel Plate
MKW Power Rocky Mount, N.C. Emergency
Systems Diesel
Generators
SPD Technology Philadelphia, Pa. Circuit Breakers
& Control Equip.
USS, Div. of USX Pittsburgh, Pa. Steel Plate
Westinghouse Sunnyvale, Calif. Ship's Service
Electric Turbin
Generators
for the project. The size and scope
of the project would involve mil-
lions of dollars in contracts in nearly
every state — contracts for suppli-
ers which have been facing U.S.
Navy downsizing (see list of CVN-
76 suppliers). It is reported that
the carrier affects 42 states and
120,000 jobs. In FY '92, NNS pur-
chased more than $252 million in
goods and services.
"I fully support CVN-76," said
Congressman Owen Pickett (D-
Va.), Second District, Va. "The case
has been made for the need of an
added carrier to preserve defense
needs as well as the industrial base.
Carriers are the front line defense
for the U.S. Navy..." and we need a
steady stream to keep a strong car-
rier force. Congressman Pickett's
comments represent the conven-
tional justification for the new car-
rier: preserving a strong national
defense (i.e. not cutting too much)
and preserving NNS's ability to
build the ships. Lest it be forgotten
that in the "bottom-up review" of
the nation's post-Cold War military
needs, released last September and
approved by President Clinton,
then-Defense Secretary Les Aspin
called for maintaining a fleet of 12
carriers, which is one fewer than
the current fleet.
The Nimitz Class Supercarrier
Another argument on the side of
funding CVN-76 today is time. Based
on the retirement and drydock/over-
haul of the current fleet, a CVN-76
funded today will be timed well to
maintain fleet strength when it
would be commissioned in 2002.
Powered by two nuclear reactors
which can operate for 20 years with-
out refueling, the typical Nimitz class
ship can be operational for about 50
years. This power plant powers the
ship via four bronze propellers, each
21 ft. (6.4 m) across and weighing
66,220 lbs., to top speeds in excess of
30 knots.
It takes five years, 47,000 tons of
structural steel and about a million
lbs. of aluminum to build a carrier.
The finished product measures 1,092
ft. (332.8 m) long, and towers 20
stories above the waterline.
Equipment aboard is varied and
plentiful, and encompasses a wide
variety of products and services to
create and maintain the massive
military entity, as well as house and
maintain the approximately 6,000
sailors and airmen aboard. For ex-
ample, ship requirements include: a
distillation plant aboard providing
400,000 gallons of fresh water from
sea water daily; nearly 30,000 light
fixtures; 2,000 telephones; and 900
miles of cable and wiring.
NNS built the first ship designed
as an aircraft carrier, the USS
Ranger, in 1934, and the world's
first nuclear-powered aircraft car-
rier, USS Enterprise, in 1961. New-
port News Shipbuilding is the sole
builder of the Nimitz class carriers.
For more information Newport
News Shipbuilding,
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July, 1994 13
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