Originally Posted by
Jimlad1
I was told that currently 5 of the fleet are long term of profile due to refit / other issues.
That was likely referring to the RCOH for each ship. Half (5) of the Nimitz class ships have already completed, or are currently in, their major mid life refit. This is known as Refueling and Complex Overhaul- RCOH. This is a major 3-4 year period where the reactors are refueled and the ships are majorly stripped out and refitted. This is the only reactor refueling in the projected 50 year life of the ships. There was some talk of skipping the RCOH for the George Washington and retiring her early as a cost saving move, but that was averted and she is next in the que and the other 4 will follow. Regular lesser yard periods are built into the deployment cycles for each ship. Massively complex and expensive undertakings to keep these capable and impressive ships in top shape and deployable.