Agree on comments ref Ike - don't forget that many USN carriers are old ladies now - Nimitz is pushing 40 too, and they've got to spend a lot of time keeping them going. Talking to my USN friends and they are candid that keeping the fleet at sea is a major challenge due to age and wider US budgetary issues - I was told that currently 5 of the fleet are long term of profile due to refit / other issues.