Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) officially began Planned Increment Availability (PIA) July 15, pier side at Naval Air Station North Island, California.

PIA is a recurring part of a ship's life cycle intended to renovate and repair the ship in a variety of aspects following the wear and tear that comes from a 7-month long deployment. A ships normal life cycle is a yard's period, followed by a work up cycle, concluded by a deployment.

Capt. Carlos Sardiello, commanding officer of Theodore Roosevelt, is pleased with the accomplishments of the crew during deployment and their eagerness to begin the current PIA period.

"We are extremely proud of the crew's accomplishments and performance on our recently completed seven-month deployment, spanning across the Arabian Gulf and the Indo-Pacific region," said Sardiello. "I'm confident that our Sailors will tackle this new phase of our ship's life cycle with the same tenacity that they have shown time and time again."

There are over 600 jobs that started this availability period, and over 150,000 man hours of work for the entire Theodore Roosevelt project team, according to Sardiello.

Completion of a work load of this magnitude is an all hands effort and is set to continue to test endurance of the Theodore Roosevelt crew.

"Sailors from every single department are contributing to the PIA teams," said Cmdr. Randy Reid, Theodore Roosevelt's chief engineer. "We have deck, vent, valve, berthing, paint, and lagging teams. You name it, and our Sailors are contributing to it."

The shipyard is only capable of doing so much work on their own, said Reid. This work needs to be done in order to improve ship's operations and crew habitability during the time that we are no longer at sea.

"This is no different than being out at sea," said Reid. "We just have a different mission. We are going to being opening up 55 of the various tanks aboard the ship that provide fuel, store waste, and allow us to be mission capable. This will be our largest renovation ever attempted on these tanks."

Reid said he feels confident that our Sailors, in conjunction with the work of the shipyard contractors, will be able to complete all tasks in a timely manner.

"As we now officially start PIA, not only are we starting the over 600 jobs, but the shipyard will also be adding 300 more contractors to the work force," said Reid.

While all of these renovations and repairs will take care of basic ship systems, Theodore Roosevelt is receiving other upgrades as well.

"We are getting new tactical air radio, air traffic control system, and a new software delivery package, all of which will require integrated testing requirements and redoing our whole integrated ship communication network," said Cmdr. Eric Olsen, Theodore Roosevelt's combat systems officer.

It is important Sailors continue to take ownership of their spaces and report issues.

"Even though we are no longer at sea, it's still all about that day-to-day maintenance and reporting problems as Sailors see them," said Olsen. "I'm confident our Sailors will excel during this PIA period, just like they did on deployment."

"We are committed to being fully combat ready for our next deployment," said Sardiello. "Our plan is to ensure the ship is ready and our crew is fully trained, rested to support our Navy, our Joint Force, and partners and allies around the world."


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