We salute Raleigh, NC native, Petty Officer Anini Tchume, a 2012 graduate of Southeast Raleigh High School. Petty Officer Tchume is currently serving as an Aircrew Survival Equipmentman 3rd Class, aboard Pre-Commissioning Unit Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78). He is responsible for the packing and care of parachutes, and maintains flight clothing, rubber life rafts, life jackets, oxygen-breathing apparatuses, protective clothing, and air-sea rescue equipment. Gerald R. Ford is the first ship in its class and the successor to the Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carriers that have been in operation for the last half century.
Gerald R. Ford’s 1000-sailor crew will eventually grow to more than 4,500 when the ship is at sea. The aircraft carrier, powered by two nuclear reactors, will measure more than three football fields long at 1,092 feet in length and will weigh more than 100,000 tons. It will be capable of sailing at nearly 35 mph and will carry more than 75 Navy aircraft. Like the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers that came before it, USS Gerald R. Ford’s mission is to protect and defend America on the world’s oceans. The ship is scheduled to commission in spring 2016. (U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Joshua Treadwell)
Thank you for your service
