USS Harry S. Truman Reaches Quarter Mark for Scheduled Dry-Dock

USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) reached the quarter mark for a scheduled dry-dock planned incremental availability (DPIA) for maintenance July 6.

Rear Adm. Ted Branch, commander, Naval Forces Atlantic; Rear Adm. Joseph Campbell, commander, Norfolk Naval Ship Yard; Rear Adm. Herman Shelanski, commander, Carrier Strike Group 10; and several civilian officials from Norfolk Naval Ship Yard and Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) visited the ship to review the progress.

Lt. j.g. James Bond, Harry S. Truman’s assistant maintenance manager, said having a review at 25 percent is a good way to not only make sure the project is on track, but also to make sure it stays that way.

“We wanted to make sure we got off to a good start,” said Bond. “There were small things that slowed us down in the very early stages of the availability, but when we look at this first quarter, we can see steady progress.”

According to Bond, there is always the possibility of unscheduled jobs. Those occur when new needs are discovered while working on regularly-planned jobs. Bond also said even with the extra jobs occurring, the projects are still on track to finish on time.

“It is still too early in the game to celebrate completion,” said Bond. “There are a lot of moving parts to this project, and a lot of work still needs to be done. We are getting good work from the ship’s force, the ship yard force and the contractors. As long as we continue to improve on the team and keep planning each project as we go, we will still be successful when we reach the 50 percent benchmark.”

According to Matt Durkin, Harry S. Truman DPIA project superintendent, maintaining a team atmosphere with the ship’s force, the ship yard and the contractors is the key to a successful DPIA.

“I have been associated with Truman since 2005,” said Durkin. “What has always amazed me is the teamwork between Truman Sailors and the ship yard personnel. It is the one thing that stands out to me as the reason we have always had success with Truman and why we are successful so far in this availability.”

Harry S. Truman is scheduled to complete its DPIA in early 2012 and begin preparations for its sixth full deployment since being commissioned in 1998.
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Source: navy, July 11, 2011;