[PhiKapMom]

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.

[LibWhacker]

Thanks, PKM! It sounds like it's not at all a trivial thing getting a ship like this in service. But boy, isn't it already a beautiful sight!