NORFOLK, Va. – The USS George Washington (CVN 73) sailed to Newport News Shipbuilding on Friday to begin her midlife maintenance period.
The Refueling Complex Overhaul (RCOH) is common for aircraft carriers and generally occurs at the 25-year mark in a carrier’s life.
The USS George Washington was built at the same shipyard where she will undergo her overhaul and was commissioned into service on July 4, 1992.
The ship will be gutted, rebuild and modernized from the ground up.
The carrier returned from her last deployment in December 2016. She won’t return to service until the RCOH is complete, which could take between four and five years.
Once the overhaul is complete, the USS George Washington will return to the fleet for another 25 years of service.
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