Okay, this land lubber can't figure this out . . . it's been christened, it's had its sea trials, it's been commissioned . . . Does this mean it could be in the Persian Gulf or sitting off the coast of N. Korea next month?
I thought I read an article a few months ago that said it won't be fully ready for duty, and won't be whacking any dictators and stupid frogs over the head, until at least 2005. So what exactly still has to be done to it to get it fully ready for deployment?
It is now headed for its berth at Coronada, San Diego, where it will continue to go through quals but won't be ready to be deployed until 2005!
The carrier and its crew along with its aircrew have to go through numerous qualifying runs before the ship will be deployed. The crew you saw today will grow in numbers as the ship becomes fully manned. A lot of the Constellation crew has put in to go to the USS Ronald Reagan and they just returned recently from the Gulf on the Connie's last deployment.