The U.S. Navy’s forward-deployed aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) began a selected restricted availability (SRA) maintenance period on January 10.
The ship’s crew and civilian contractors are slated to perform repairs and maintenance to ensure the ship is structurally and operationally ready for future patrols.
“SRA is important because it’s the way we keep the Reagan in top condition to support any tasking from 7th Fleet and maintain its 50-year lifetime,” said Cmdr. Richard Jones , Ronald Reagan’s chief engineer.
During the carrier’s second maintenance period, Ronald Reagan sailors will focus on multiple essential components, including the ship’s flight deck, hangar bays and general living spaces.
Not only is this period for executing repair and maintenance projects, but it also allows opportunity to prepare for future SRA’s and contribute lessons learned to the rest of the fleet.
“If we learn a lesson here, we try to transfer that to the whole carrier maintenance community,” said Jones. “So that way they won’t be starting from step one.”
Ronald Reagan’s crew contributed a combined total of more than 1.2 million man hours during the ship’s 2016 SRA. Ronald Reagan is scheduled to complete this year’s period of patching up in late spring.
Ronald Reagan is the flagship of carrier strike group 5 and operates in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region.