The aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis arrived in Newport News, Va., for a four-year overhaul, shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls Industries announced.

The nuclear-powered vessel, commissioned in 1995, will undergo a "refueling and complex overhaul," which involves replacement of expended nuclear fuel with new fuel and a general maintenance and modernization of the entire ship.

"This effort, which will continue through late 2025, will produce a recapitalized carrier capable of supporting current and future warfare doctrine while continuing to operate as the centerpiece of the Navy fleet and national defense for another 25 years," an HII statement on Thursday said.

The overhaul includes removal of the flight deck and most of the ship's computer and combat systems, the renovation of tanks and other spaces and refueling its two nuclear reactors, followed by a total reconstruction. A complete RCOH represents about 35% of an aircraft carrier's maintenance and modernization over its expected 50-year lifespan.

A Defense Department contract announcement in February said that Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding Division was awarded a contract valued at $2,994,237,224 for the overhaul. The ship will be the seventh U.S. aircraft carrier to undergo the RCOH process.

The aircraft carrier, 1,092 feet long, typically carries air wings including Navy and Marine Corps F/A-18 Hornet and EA-18G Growler fighter planes, MH-60R and MH-60S helicopters and E-2C Hawkeye surveillance and early warning planes.

Expeditionary sea base USS Miguel Keith to be commissioned on Saturday
 Washington DC (UPI) May 7, 2021 –

The expeditionary sea base vessel USS Miguel Keith will be commissioned in a weekend ceremony, the U.S. Navy announced on Friday.

The commissioning ceremony, reduced in scope in light of COVID-19 precautions, takes place Saturday morning at Naval Air Station North Island in California.

The vessel was named after U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Miguel Keith, who was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for heroism in Vietnam.

Keith's mother, Mrs. Eliadora Keith, is the ship's sponsor.

The ship, 785 feet long, is the Navy's third Expeditionary Sea Base, a platform providing logistics movement from sea to shore supporting a broad range of military operations.

The ESB classification was designed to offer four key capabilities — aviation facilities, berthing, equipment staging area, and command and control — and can accommodate small planes and helicopters, repair facilities and shallow-water Landing Craft Air Cushion vehicles.

The ship carries about 100 officers and crew, as well as 44 Military Sea Life mariners.

The USS Miguel Keith will then join the Forward Deployed Naval Force operating from Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, in the Pacific Ocean.

The ship was built by General Dynamics NASSCO in San Diego, and completed its acceptance trials in 2019.