Overhaul Delays for USS George Washington, USS John C. Stennis Partially Due to Unknown Steam Turbin

[rangerrebew]

Overhaul Delays for USS George Washington, USS John C. Stennis Partially Due to Unknown Steam Turbine Damage
SAM LAGRONE
JULY 8, 2024 7:03 PM

 
Extensive delays to the mid-life refueling and complex overhauls of two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers were due to damage to the steam turbines that power the ship, USNI News has learned.
According to Naval Sea Systems Command, “significant damage” to the generators aboard both USS George Washington (CVN-73) and USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) added unplanned work that was discovered after both carriers arrived at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding for maintenance.

Every mid-life refueling and overhaul, “work package has planned inspections and routine refurbishment of the eight [turbine generators]; however, inspections for both George Washington and John C. Stennis revealed one generator on each ship with significant damage that resulted in unplanned growth work, which contributed to schedule extensions on both ships,” reads the statement from NAVSEA.

The Nimitz-class carriers mid-life overhauls are scheduled for four years, but Washington took almost six years while Stennis is set to take five and a half, USNI News reported last month.

https://news.usni.org/2024/07/08/overhaul-delays-for-uss-george-washington-uss-john-c-stennis-partially-due-to-unknown-steam-turbine-damage

[Smokin Joe]

Did someone sabotage or otherwise damage those turbines?

Every system has some seemingly minor critical point that can shut the whole thing down or do major damage with relatively little action.

[DefiantMassRINO]

Why are turbines designed to last the life of the ship failing after 30 years?  Maybe Congress should investigate.

[Smokin Joe]

Why are turbines designed to last the life of the ship failing after 30 years?  Maybe Congress should investigate.

It's one generator of eight on each ship.

Do those generators have something in common (or at least different from the other seven) that may have caused that damage?
Is this a design, maintenance, or operation problem? Or did the damage occur while the turbines were idle--(a lot can go wrong with equipment that isn't operated for extended periods, too).


We may never know, and I certainly don't like the idea of any weak points in the carriers being posted in open forum on the web (because it may expose a vulnerability to the weapons system), but if there is something that could be prevented, it should be prevented in the future.