As said in a previous post it is necessary to shutdown a plant for a period of time(usually a month) in order to complete maintenance which cannot be done while steaming. Its hard to replace a bearing when a machine is spinning at 3000rpm!!!
Each student will experiance a maintenance shutdown of one form or another while at prototype. Its hard to get checkouts during a shutdown, so my advice to all would be to stay far ahead of the curve so the shutdown won't affect you that much.
Every few years(Not sure exactly), or as required, an extended shutdown occurs, making it necessary to send more students to other prototypes. This type of shutdown involves the boat being towed to a shipyard(Norfolk for example) or shipyard workers coming to the boat to perform extensive maintenance which could not be completed in a normal shutdown. Since we are not steaming, students arent standing watch, therefore, students can't qualify on the plant.
If anyone has any questions, post them. I'm happy to help.
EM2 O'D
NPTU Charleston