As experts stated, this was to be expected, especially considering that the aircraft carrier, according to the US Navy, spent 286 days at sea. Last November, it sailed from its home port in San Diego.
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Among other things, the warship was involved in active combat and blockade operations against Iran in the Middle East for almost half a year.
“Rust along the waterline is not an unusual phenomenon on a ship that has continuously spent 60 or more days at sea,” assessed Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain who served three times on Nimitz-class aircraft carriers similar to the Abraham Lincoln.
Addressing rust problems is not something that can be done at sea, especially during combat operations, added the former captain.
According to C. Schuster, in such a case, crew members would need to be lowered to the waterline, sand off the rust, apply two coats of rust-protective primer, and then two coats of gray paint.
“Based on what I see, all rust removal and preservation work would take about 30 days,” he calculated.
In the former Navy captain’s opinion, some work in critical areas could also be done during a stop in Thailand.
On Wednesday, the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln entered the Lam Chabang port in the Gulf of Thailand, south of Bangkok, where a several-day stay is planned so that crew members can rest and relax for the first time after a record-long deployment.
“During the seven-day port visit, only priority work will be carried out. First, the rust coating on the front and forward hull sections of the ship will be removed, as these suffer the most while sailing and experience corrosion caused by sailing in saltwater, especially in rough seas,” C. Schuster further explained.
Some rust on the upper decks can be removed while the ship is underway, but when repairing along the waterline, the ship must be stationary and protected from wave impact, he added.
However, this is a problem that cannot be ignored.
“Rust is like a contagious disease. It spreads. Therefore, it is better to deal with it early to stop it than to address a much bigger problem later,” noted C. Schuster.
“It weakens any steel structure it attacks. So, it needs to be removed before it has a decisive impact on your parts,” for example, decks, tracks, and lifelines.
Rust was not the only problem related to the long deployment of the Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. There have been repeated reports of deteriorating psychological conditions of crew members and marines, loss of motivation, and issues with hygiene and food supply.
However, US President Donald Trump dismissed these concerns, stating that the Abraham Lincoln deployment was “not even long enough.”
Since the aircraft carrier reached Thailand, D. Trump has not made any comments about the ship’s condition.
However, earlier the US president urged the Navy to fix its warships, as during his second term these ships would have to endure longer deployment periods.
Former Navy Secretary John Phelan said that D. Trump would call him even in the middle of the night complaining about the rust problem.
“He told me many times: ‘Shipbuilding, shipbuilding, shipbuilding.’ ‘Get those ships out of the repair docks.’ ‘Remove that damn rust,'” J. Phelan recalled at a conference in Maryland. “He doesn’t like it, and I don’t like getting calls in the middle of the night.”
The sailors don’t like it either, emphasized C. Schuster.
“Fighting rust is one of the two most disliked activities in the Navy. The other is anything related to plumbing. As a junior ship officer, I hated both,” he laughed.
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