US Aircraft Carrier 'Ike' Leaves Drydock
The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69) (Ike) has left dry dock and moved from Dry Dock 8 to pier 42/43 at Norfolk Naval Shipyard (NNSY) in Portsmouth, Va. informs USN.
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower has been in dry dock since September 2013, conducting a scheduled docking planned incremental availability (DPIA) period.
"Without the excellent work of the ship's team leaders and zone managers, the ship wouldn't have been ready when it was," said Lt. Cmdr. Jeremy James, Ike's maintenance manager.
James said the ship's force and NNSY personnel worked well together, completing approximately 12,500 jobs prior to flooding the dock.
Brian Bennett, the Ike DPIA project supervisor, said the undocking is the first of many major key events to come for the Ike project team. "Putting water on the hull and floating the ship is truly a monumental task," he said.
Capt. Mark Bridenstine, the commanding officer of Norfolk Naval Shipyard, said it was the commitment and dedication of Bennett, deputy project superintendents John Tuthill and Steve Hein, and the entire Ike team that enabled the ship to reach this milestone.
"Having Ike back in the water is a major milestone as we progress through this maintenance period," said Capt. Stephen T. Koehler, Ike's commanding officer. "Not only does it allow us to do maintenance that had to wait until we were waterborne, but it gives the crew and the shipyard a very big morale boost to achieve this event."
The next major milestone during Ike's DPIA will be crew move aboard, which is scheduled to commence in less than a month.