Surpassing Milestones
Since before the keel was laid in September 2003, the AMSEC team, partnered with shipbuilder Northrop Grumman Newport News, has supported all the new ship’s material outfitting and life-cycle logistics processes. Nearly three years later, on July 8, 2006, the team marked one of the effort’s most major construction milestones: the super lift of a 700-ton “island” structure to the ship’s flight deck. It was the 161st – and final – super lift.

Super lifts consist of smaller, pre-outfitted ship sections that are welded together, then lifted into the construction dry dock using a 900-ton gantry crane, the largest in the western hemisphere. The Bush island, which will serve as the flight deck operations command center, includes a new radar tower, navigation system upgrades, communication systems enhancements, and transparent armor windows.

Former President George H. W. Bush attended the ceremony, accompanied by former First Lady Barbara Bush. Also in attendance were the ship’s prospective Commanding Officer, Captain Kevin O’Flaherty; Bush’s daughter and Ship Sponsor, Doro Bush Koch; Secretary of the Navy, Dr. Donald C. Winter; Northrop Grumman Newport News President Mike Petters; and many shipbuilders and sailors.

President Bush said this construction milestone was a reminder that “the muscle behind every American, the military, is as strong as ever.” He went on to thank everyone involved in making this “mind-boggling vessel” a reality, and to specifically address the shipbuilders. “It is an absolutely amazing piece of work,” he said. “I salute all. These are the best shipbuilders – the best workers – we have.”

Before the ceremony ended, Former President Bush and Captain O’Flaherty ceremoniously placed their naval aviator wings under the island. This custom, known as “stepping the mast,” consists of placing coins or other items of significance under the step or bottom of a ship’s mast during construction. One belief, based in Greek mythology, is if the ship should wreck during passage, the coins will ensure payment of the crew’s wages for their return home. This tradition, which dates back to the construction of USS Constitution in the 1790s, has been passed on as a symbol of good luck for U. S. Navy ships.

Non-Stop, Behind-the-Scenes Support
Since 2001, AMSEC’s New Construction Aircraft Carrier Division in Hampton has been dedicated to providing Northrop Grumman Newport News with innovative, high quality logistics support for efficient total life-cycle operational management, throughout the ship's construction and beyond. The CVN 77 Management Team is led by Carol Davis, Chuck Rintamaki, Carl Lilieberg, Don Kline, Ben Ellis, Irene Bechtel, Cornell Owens, Phil Deuel, Tom Gilley, and Dan Selfridge. The outstanding employee owners who support them are, principally, in five supporting team areas: supply support (configuration management and provisioning), onboard repair parts, technical documentation, training, and warehousing.

Gary Watson's Configuration Supply Support Team builds the ship's 100,000+ configuration records and performs quality assurance reviews of work packages from other systems' command agencies for input into the Configuration Data Managers's Database. The data eventually becomes part of the Navy's Weapons Systems File.

A sliced view of the CVN-77 while under construction.

The Provisioning Supply support Team, led by Vicki Sibert, reviews all contractor furnished technical data and creates allowance parts lists (APLs) for the ship's initial coordinated shipboard allowance list (COSAL). This is a list of all maintenance-significant parts, special tools, and consumables necessary for the sailors aboard CVN 77 to maintain their equipment in top operating condition.

Onboard Repair Parts Team Lead Lyle Oney works with the Naval Inventory Control Point (NAVICP) in Mechanicsburg to facilitate accurate and timely procurement of more than 9,000 authorized outfitting repair parts. The ship cannot go to sea without 100% of its critical spares onboard.

Al Simmons, the Logistics Technical Documentation Team Lead, and 20 subject matter experts, provide all new and updated hull, mechanical, and electrical (HM&E) technical documentation. This represents some 650 manuals governing proper operation and maintenance of the equipment and systems aboard ship.

Training Lead Les Mallory and his team of nine trainers develop and conduct familiarization training and detailed operator/maintenance training for more than 95 HM&E and command, control, communications, computers, and intelligence (C4I) systems to acquaint the new CVN 77 construction crew with their ship systems and equipment.

Under the leadership of Carl Soles, Program Manager for our Warehousing Division in Suffolk, AMSEC receives all incoming government-and contractor-furnished material for CVN 77. AMSEC’s warehouse personnel perform storage, inventory control, kitting, and staging and will, ultimately, manage over 100,000 line items of material to fully outfit the ship – important in “bringing the ship to life.”

AMSEC’s logistics team is fully integrated with the Navy and the shipbuilder, ensuring the ship’s sustained superior readiness, survivability, and war fighting capability now and for the next 50 years.