Carrier slated for early commissioning in Jan.

In a departure from tradition, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier George H.W. Bush will be commissioned next month before sea trials and formal delivery to the Navy, Northrop Grumman Shipbuilding said yesterday.

The $6.2 billion carrier named after the 41st president is scheduled for commissioning Jan. 10, just days before the elder Bush's son, President George W. Bush, leaves office. Both Bushes are expected to attend the commissioning at the Norfolk Naval Station.

Typically, before the Navy accepts a vessel into active service it undergoes sea trials -- the nautical equivalent of test driving a car. The carrier's two sea trials involve a series of operational tests to show that the ship's two nuclear propulsion units and other systems function properly. The trials each can take two to five days.

In a statement, Northrop Grumman said it has been working with the Navy to determine "the right time to take this ship to sea and the ensuing time to deliver the ship."

The planning "has put us in the position where we have just 'run out of days' on the calendar to accomplish this before the commissioning ceremony," a Northrop Grumman spokeswoman, Margaret Mitchell-Jones, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

The commissioning of a ship before formal delivery has occurred 15 times in modern U.S. naval history, with the most recent occurring in 1986, according to the Navy.

The Navy said it will stick with the Jan. 10 commissioning because of the long planning leading to that date. The secretary of the Navy will waive the usual timeline involving a commissioning, said Lt. Clayton Doss, a Navy spokesman.

The original delivery date was to be by the end of this year, but it is now scheduled for the first quarter of 2009, Mitchell-Jones said.

Northrop Grumman's president, C. Michael Petters, said the George H.W. Bush -- the 10th and final Nimitz-class carrier -- is about one month from delivery.

"Everybody is working hard, we're making a lot of progress and we'll see how it goes," Petters told the Daily Press, which first reported the delay.

Workers said some electrical work, painting and other minor work needs to be finished before the ship is turned over, the Newport News newspaper reported on its Web site.

A crew of more than 5,000 will serve aboard the carrier.