The U.S. Navy completed on-sea tests of USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier belonging to the Nimitz class of ships. The carrier, also known as “Ike,” launched from Naval Station Norfolk to undergo sea trials off Virginia’s coast to evaluate several aspects including small-boat operations, countermeasure wash-down systems, catapult performance and high-speed turning, the Navy said Tuesday.
The series of trials lasted for five days and required boosted maintenance workload for the ship’s system engineers.
“Our investment in our ship paid off and now the real work begins: getting the flight deck certified so we start doing what this warship was built to do – launch and recover aircraft,” said Capt. Kyle Higgins, the carrier’s commanding officer.
The ship will proceed with the optimized fleet response plan basic phase where the vessel’s crew will undergo focused training.
