U.S. sailors have used 3D printing to repair a rotary joint on the aircraft carrier, the USS John C. Stennis. “The rotary joint is like a fork on a BMX,” explained Lt. j.g. Tyler Grimm, the exterior communications maintenance division officer onboard the John C. Stennis. With a home port in Bremerton, Washington, the John C. Stennis Carrier is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations in support of naval operations to ensure maritime stability and security. “We got together with repair division and Cmdr. Holland [and] came up with a more sophisticated way using 3D printing to manufacture a solution.” “Since its founding, our Navy has relied on the innovation of our sailors to fix our systems to keep them in the fight,” said Capt. Jason Bridges, OPNAV N415 Branch Head and Navy Lead for additive manufacturing. “Additive manufacturing adds a new, extremely capable tool that gives us the ability to return systems to operations, even if only temporarily. This example of fixing the CBSP antenna aboard Stennis demonstrates this potential of additive manufacturing to enhance a ship’s combat endurance, an ability that will rapidly expand as the Navy fields additive manufacturing capability in the fleet over the next couple of years.” Featured image shows sailors working on flight operations on the John C. Stennis Carrier.

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