The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) returned to the United States after completing its final operational deployment in the Pacific, marking the end of a key chapter in the history of the U.S. Navy. The ship arrived in Bremerton, Washington, after nearly nine months of continuous operations and previous port calls in Pearl Harbor and San Diego.
The USS Nimitz, commissioned in 1975 and currently the oldest aircraft carrier in the U.S. fleet, departed San Diego on December 7, after disembarking elements of its strike group and Carrier Wing 17. Its return to Bremerton marks the formal beginning of the transition process toward its final retirement from active service.
Final year of operations
The Nimitz’s final deployment began on March 26, when it sailed unceremoniously from San Diego Bay to commence operations under the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (INDOPACOM) area of responsibility. During April, the USS Nimitz Strike Group made a port call in Guam, where a sailor assigned to the group was reported missing. The Navy suspended search efforts after five days without success.
Subsequently, the aircraft carrier operated in the Philippine Sea, where it conducted exercises alongside a destroyer from the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. In mid-May, the strike group moved to the vicinity of the Strait of Malacca, making an operational stop in Malaysia before continuing its activities in the South China Sea.
In June, the USS Nimitz was redeployed to the Middle East, where it operated alongside the USS Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group. The Nimitz’s strike group arrived in the Arabian Sea on the same day that the U.S. launched attacks against three Iranian nuclear facilities as part of Operation Midnight Hammer. The USS Carl Vinson left the region in July, while the Nimitz remained deployed under U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).
In August, the aircraft carrier visited Bahrain, marking the first port call by a U.S. carrier in that country in five years. After approximately three months in the Middle East, the strike group transited the Singapore Strait and returned to the Indo-Pacific, where it remained until the end of its deployment.
The deployment was not without incident. While operating in the South China Sea, an F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jet and an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter, both assigned to the USS Nimitz Strike Group, crashed into the sea just 30 minutes apart on October 26. In both cases, the crews were rescued alive. The aircraft were recovered in early December.
Return to the U.S. and decommissioning process
On its final voyage to the West Coast, the USS Nimitz made a stop at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, before continuing on to San Diego and finally arriving in Bremerton. As planned by the Navy, the aircraft carrier will eventually be moved to the U.S. East Coast, where it will be decommissioned.
The return of the Nimitz coincides with the deployment of the USS George Washington (CVN-73), which temporarily assumed the US naval presence in the South China Sea, although it later moved to Guam, leaving the region without an operational US aircraft carrier.
After more than five decades of service, the USS Nimitz is now beginning a planned decommissioning process starting in 2024. The retirement of this 333-meter-long, approximately 100,000-ton displacement vessel represents a significant technical, industrial, and budgetary challenge for the U.S. Navy, and marks the end of a pivotal chapter in the history of U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
*Cover image courtesy of the U.S. Navy.
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