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Old 12-17-2008, 01:39 PM
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chico20854 chico20854 is offline
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Join Date: Sep 2008
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I just talked to one of the nuclear vessel custodians here. While my agency has custody of Sturgis, it belongs to the Pentagon still. It was defuelled when it was returned to the US from Panama, so it would need some shipyard time to reactivate. It was also never licensed to operate in the US, and does not meet the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's requirements to generate power for the US electrical grid. The conversion of the ship to a power plant included removal of the power plant and screws, and when it was brought out of service the pylons and other structural parts to link it to shoreside power were removed.

All this, however, does not invalidate its usability in a T2k context. The shipyard in Newport News, right down the James River from Ft. Eustis, has the capability to refuel it, and there are several shipyards in the area that could do the structural work. Sturgis' generating capacity is too small to make the effort needed to put her back into service worthwhile prior to a nuclear exchange; after the exchange (in which the Newport News yard gets hit, with a carrier nearing completion in the largest drydock and two Seawolf-class subs under construction) it is definitely worth the effort, and finding the needed materials and workers to do so would make an interesting adventure.
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