It’s May 6, the sun is up and many have eaten breakfast just in time for the ship’s high-speed turn testing. About a dozen people look forward from the flag bridge, watching the horizon move as the ship rolls port and starboard.  A heavy rain drenches the flight deck. The ship is moving at 75 percent power.

“Standby for heavy rolls port and starboard,” a voice over a speaker announces.

And then the ship begins to roll. “That’s a nice little turn,” says Donny Suits, X42 general foreman.

“Hang on,” General Foreman Rodger Anderson says.

Among those observing while taking a break from their own work are X42 Pipefitters John Miller and Amos Rawls (pictured from left).

“It’s pretty weird watching the boat twist like this,” Rawls says. “It’s awesome not seeing any land. I’m used to seeing the shipyard.”

It’s Rawls’ first time on a boat at sea. He first started working on the Reagan several years ago when it was in pieces. “It didn’t look like a boat,” he says. “It’s a big difference from where I started to where I am now.”

Miller is more familiar with being on ships, having served in the Navy for many years.  “It feels good to see everything working. It’s a sense of accomplishment to see the rusty pieces of metal in the dry dock and watch it come together like a warship,” Miller says. “I was in the service and I didn’t know how they built ships. I operated the equipment and now I helped build it. I can relate to the Navy and the shipyard people, because I’ve done both.”  

Pictured: A view of the horizon from the island house when the Reagan performed high-speed turns.

The hangar deck is busy with people passing by, taking a break and discussing their next assignments. Supervisor James W. Moore, a veteran of sea trials five times over, is strumming a tune on his guitar to relax before he hits the rack. He’s working a 12-hour night shift. 

Across the way, Rick Shipley of X32 and Morris Cox of X33 (from left to right) are spending the morning painting safety lines on the floor of the hangar bay in front of the aircraft elevator. They had to wait for sea trials to complete this task because when the Reagan was at the shipyard gangways blocked this area.

For veteran shipbuilder Cox, being on sea trials is a nice break from his normal work routine. “It’s relaxing to be on sea trials,” he says. “Out here is like being in another world.”

Cox has spent the last 33 years at the shipyard and says this is his last sea trial before he retires in two years. “I’ve enjoyed my shipyard years. They’ve been good to me.”

For Shipley, a 28-year shipyard employee, seeing Reagan leave the shipyard for builder’s trials was an exciting moment. “I’m glad to see it. It’s been a long five years and this is like the light at the end of the tunnel.”

David Cash, an O43 locksmith, passes by Cox and Shipley. He’s on his way with MR1 Mark Seibert to fix a lock in an office space.

Together Cash and Seibert (left to right) work together and fix the lock.

“Put it to zero,” Cash tells Seibert. “And hold it.”

Cash works on locks on carriers and in the shipyard. “It’s a different world here,” he says about working on the ship. “The types of locks on a ship are different than what is used in the yard. There are more high-secure locks.”

It’s late morning when Supervisor Derek Garrett of X32 heads to a galley to fix some cooking equipment. Sailors are busy preparing the afternoon meals. They’re breaking apart cabbage, lining chicken wings on a platter, and stirring pasta in large vats. Garrett begins to fix the insulation strip of an oven. It’s just one of various tasks he’ll complete this morning.

Meanwhile, Barrett Fitzwater, an X31 Combat Systems electrician, is working to install a power system to complete one of the last spaces for Combat Systems. It’s his first time at sea on a surface ship, having previously been involved with submarines. This two-year shipyard employee likes that there is more room on the carrier and he says, “It definitely is good seeing everything you put together that works.”