CVN-80 USS 엔터프라이즈, 용골 부설

[위종민]

9대째 USS 엔터프라이즈인 포드급 3번함 USS 엔터프라이즈의 용골부설식이 8월 27일 열렸습니다. 스폰서는 올림픽 수영선수인 케이티 레데키와 체조선수인 시몬 바일스였습니다. 

목선 시대엔 실제로 용골을 선대에 거치했지만, 블록건조 방식인 요즘은 스폰서들의 이니셜을 'place of honor'의 철판에 새기는 것이 행사의 내용이네요.  

현재 포드급 3번함과 4번함인 USS 도리스 밀러 함이 건조 초기단계에 있으며, 5, 6번함의 건조 계획이 검토중이라고 하네요. 

https://breakingdefense.com/2022/08/ninth-of-its-name-hii-navy-lays-the-keel-for-next-enterprise/

Ninth of its name: HII, Navy lays the keel for next Enterprise - Breaking Defense

Ninth of its name: HII, Navy lays the keel for next Enterprise

Justin Katz

4-5 minutes

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Olympic swimmer Katie Ledecky addresses the crowd during the keel laying ceremony for the future USS Enterprise (CVN-80). (Justin Katz/Breaking Defense)

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — With its predecessor sitting just miles away in another part of the shipyard, HII Newport News Shipbuilding today ceremonially laid the keel for the future USS Enterprise (CVN-80), the third aircraft carrier in the Ford-class program.

The new carrier, sponsored by Olympic athletes Simone Biles and Katie Ledecky, will be the ninth in the US Navy’s history to bear the name “Enterprise” (and not including the iconic starship from “Star Trek”). The Olympians were selected to sponsor the ship in 2016 by then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and are the first athletes to receive the honor.

During her speech, Ledecky, who knows something about the water with seven Olympic gold medals, talked about her philosophy for swimming and compared it to the challenges the shipbuilders must overcome while constructing the centerpiece of the Navy’s fleet. She also spoke about her grandfather who was a Navy corpsman assigned to the Marines in the Pacific theater during World War II.

“I have Navy in my blood,” she told a small group of reporters following the ceremony. “I wish he could be here but he passed several years ago… I know my grandmother, his wife, was watching today and that’s really special to me.”

Katie Ledecky, an Olympic swimmer, is one of the first athletes to sponsor a US Navy ship. She, alongside gymnast Simone Biles, was chosen to do so in 2016 by then-Navy Secretary Ray Mabus. (Justin Katz/Breaking Defense)

Biles was not able to attend the event in person, but filmed a video in which she signed initials to one of the steel plates that were eventually engraved by two welders from Newport News Shipbuilding. Also in attendance were several congressmen from the Virginia delegation; Adm. Daryl Caudle, commander of US Fleet Forces; as well as numerous retired Navy sailors who served on the older Enterprise (CVN-65), nicknamed “The Big E.”

Keel laying ceremonies originated when the service still built wooden ships. But modern keel layings involve the shipbuilder, in this case HII, engraving the initials of the sponsors into a steel plates that sit at a “place of honor” on the ship.

“The tradition of laying a ship’s keel can be traced back to the first ship built by the United States Navy,” Newport News Shipbuilding President Jennifer Boykin told the crowd. “Built from the bottom up, the central timber was laid down to signify the start of her construction.”

Although shipbuilders routinely hold ceremonies to honor the sponsors and the workforce, the company effectively laid CVN-80’s keel in early April when it moved the first unit — part of the ship’s aft — into the dry dock. Officials told reporters that event took place three weeks ahead of schedule.

Part of the aft of the future USS Enterprise (CVN-80) being constructed inside the dry dock at HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding. HII placed the first unit of the ship into the dry dock in April. (Justin Katz/Breaking Defense)

Navy and industry officials on Friday also said that although the Enterprise, and the fourth ship in the Ford class, the Doris Miller, still remain in the nascent stages of construction, they are already eyeing acquisition strategies for the Navy’s next two carriers.

The decision to pursue two more aircraft carriers, and how to do it, will ultimately fall to Congress, but in the meantime, the Navy must make a decision for how to dispose of the old Enterprise (CVN-65), the service’s first nuclear aircraft carrier.

The Navy is currently working through a process that assesses the environmental impacts of the disposal — a time consuming event, but one that is legally required — before it comes to a final decision.

During today’s ceremony, Boykin said that the old carrier will live on in the new ship both through name and material: Parts of the old ship — roughly 20,000 pounds of steel thus far — have been salvaged and repurposed for inclusion into the newer vessel’s construction.

A part of CVN-80’s aft is held in place by Newport News Shipbuilding’s massive crane, nicknamed “Big Blue.” During the ceremony, a NNS crane operator moved the structure to take its place on the ship. (Justin Katz/Breaking Defense)