George Washington (CVN 73) - Naval Cruise Book

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f' ') f hen USS George ' -fl Washington (C W 73) was commissioned on Independence Day in 1992. the ship became the sixth Nimitz-class carrier to come out of Newport News Shipbuilding. But it didn’t happen overnight. In fact, it was nearly ten years before the commissioning when the contract to build GW was signed by Newport News Shipbuilding (NNS). An aircraft carrier truly is a city at sea. Building a ship that will eventually be home to 6.000 Sailors takes highly skilled labor and the equipment to operate it. At the time GW was nearing completion, NNS employed roughly 28,000 men and women, many of whom helped build CVN 73. (? officially began construction in 1986 after her keel was laid down within an NNS dry dock slip. To provide the muscle for moving around the large sections of GW, the shipyard used powerful 900-ton capacity cranes. But construction was hardly all brawn. Employing computers to map and organize, George Washington was made at the shipyard with modular construction. This method allowed yard employees to design and use the cranes to place large sections onto GW's hull. Since building upward, each modular section was laid next to another where piping, wiring, ventilation and interior equipment became easy to install for shipyard workers. Using the computer-aided design and manufacturing (CADAM) system, NNS employees designed the majority of GW’s interior from a computer program instead of a drawing board. That design equipment allowed CADAM to send specific information to pipe, sheet metal and machine shop equipment. Upon command, the machines manufactured the exact number of ship pieces every time, precisely cutting and placing pieces which were eventually laid into a hull that after some welding and riveting began to assume the inward appearance of the ship GW Sailors see each day. By the ship's christening in July 1990. GW was complete with 2,000 telephones, 30,000 light fixtures, 600.000 pens and the ship was capable of serving 18.150 meals and producing 400.000 gallons of water daily. On July 4, 1992, after 40 million man hours and nearly six years of team work were expended, the United States celebrated the birth of a nation by recognizing the dawn of “America's Carrier.”

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“oMap jod bless the tfpeorge (Washington and all who sail in her and all who flp from her deck. et the jeorge (Washington proclaim America's commitment to remain forever free Piesid at Geoige 'Basil USS Geojige. asHingtoiA OiUisteaing - Iddiiess Jufcg 21. 1990 fifn front of 10,000 witnesses, USS George Washington was christened by First Lady Barbara Bush on July 21. 1990 at Newport News Shipbuilding. Guests included President George Bush. Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney, Secretary of the Navy H. Lawrence Garrett, Senator John Warner and many other prominent political Figures.