NEWPORT NEWS — After spending two years at Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Newport News shipyard for its final major maintenance project, the USS Enterprise aircraft carrier was re-delivered to the Navy on Monday after successful sea trials.
The nation's oldest warship entered Hampton Roads harbor just after 1 p.m. Monday, its flight deck lined with sailors clad in dress whites to celebrate the completion of the ship's last dry-dock availability in Newport News.
Flanked by a four tugboats, the nearly 49-year-old matriarch of the U.S. fleet returned to pier at Naval Station Norfolk, where it will prepare for two final six-month deployments before it's decommissioned in 2013.
"Enterprise is as ready and capable as she has ever been throughout her 48 years," said Capt. Ron Horton, the ship's commanding officer. "For me, Enterprise is more than just the oldest active warship, she's the legend."
The Enterprise arrived at the shipyard in April 2008 for what was supposed to be a 16-month maintenance project estimated to cost $453.3 million. But the aging 1,101-foot giant, with its corroded pipes, tanks and hull, proved to be a much more formidable challenge.
The Navy spent nearly $662million on its 24 months of maintenance work, about 46 percent higher than the original price tag. Just last week, the service approved spending an additional $6.8 million to complete the project — the 12th time in 22 months it doled out more cash to fix unexpected problems.
"There's a lot of equipment from the 1950s still on board that no one makes anymore," said Dan Klemencic, Northrop's top-side construction director for the Enterprise project. "So what appears to be a minor problem can quickly become a major one."
Northrop fixed and repaired pipes, tanks, combat systems and electrical systems and made enhancements to the hull and mechanical systems.
Many problems weren't discovered until shipyard engineers and waterfront workers performed inspections and made repairs deep within the ship's hull.
In tanks and fuel and sewage pipes, for example, the yard found a significant amount of "good, old-fashioned rust," Klemencic said. In some cases, the only thing holding together sewage pipes was a buildup of calcification. In some fuel pipes, "we saw some significant holes" that either were patched or the pipe replaced, he said.
"We found more things than one could have possibly anticipated," said Jim Hughes, vice president of aircraft carrier overhauls at Northrop. "It's like the plumbing in an old home — the more you get in there, the more you find."
Built in Newport News and commissioned in 1961, the "Big E" is the world's first nuclear-powered carrier.
Over the past five decades, the Enterprise has spent several years in Newport News for maintenance projects, employing thousands of shipyard workers. That fact spawned the creation of an oft-repeated saying around the yard: "There are two kinds of people who work here: Those who have worked on the Enterprise, and those who will."
Northrop has a contract to provide all remaining maintenance on the ship. But when Enterprise left Newport News on Saturday morning for sea trials, it marked the last time the ship will be on the James River waterfront until it is deactivated and decommissioned in three years.
"This is an exciting day for us and the Navy," Hughes said. "But it's also very bittersweet."
The "Big E"
•Northrop completed the ship's final maintenance project Monday at a cost of $662 million.
•The project was delayed eight months and was 46 percent over budget, mostly because of unexpected problems due to its age.
•Enterprise is scheduled to make two final six-month deployments before a 2013 decommissioning.
•The world's first nuclear-powered carrier and the oldest in the U.S. fleet was built in Newport News and commissioned in 1961.
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