The USS John C. Stennis' major overhaul and refueling was awarded to HII for $2.9 billion.

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) announced that its Newport News Shipbuilding division has been awarded a $2.9 billion contract for the refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74). The RCOH represents 35% of all maintenance and modernization in an aircraft carrier’s 50-year service life. Stennis’ RCOH will include the refueling of the ship’s reactors, as well as extensive modernization work to more than 2,300 compartments, hundreds of tanks and systems. In addition, major upgrades will be made in the propulsion plant, to the flight deck, catapults, combat systems and the island.

“We are pleased to be awarded the contract to execute this extensive construction and engineering project,” said Todd West, Newport News’ vice president, in-service aircraft carrier programs. “Our teams have spent three years preparing and planning for each step of the process along the way, and we look forward to continuing our work with our suppliers and Navy partners in anticipation of the ship’s arrival at Newport News.”

USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) is the seventh Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier in the United States Navy, named for Democratic Senator John C. Stennis of Mississippi. She was commissioned on 9 December 1995. Her home port is temporarily Norfolk, Virginia, for her scheduled refueling complex and overhaul, which began in 2019. After her overhaul is completed sometime in the 2020s, she is scheduled to return to Bremerton, Washington.

Huntington Ingalls Industries is America’s largest military shipbuilding company and a provider of professional services to partners in government and industry. For more than a century, HII’s Newport News and Ingalls shipbuilding divisions in Virginia and Mississippi have built more ships in more ship classes than any other U.S. naval shipbuilder. HII’s Technical Solutions division supports national security missions around the globe with unmanned systems, defense and federal solutions, and nuclear and environmental services. Headquartered in Newport News, Virginia, HII employs more than 42,000 people operating both domestically and internationally.