The USS Nimitz (CVN-68), the U.S. Navy’s oldest aircraft carrier is set to retire after many years of dedicated service.
As the Nimitz prepares to decommission, it symbolizes the end of an era while paving the way for new ships and technologies to continue the Navy’s important work.
USS Nimitz Prepares for Final Deployment
The USS Nimitz is getting ready for its last deployments before its decommission scheduled for 2026 and expected to finish in 2027. After over 50 years of service, this nuclear-powered supercarrier will be decommissioned at Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding facility.
Named after Chester W. Nimitz, a World War II Pacific fleet commander and the Navy’s third fleet admiral, it’s one of the largest warships in the world. The Nimitz was built as CVAN-68, meaning “aircraft carrier, attack, nuclear powered.”
It was later renamed CVN-68, which stands for “aircraft carrier, multi-mission, nuclear-powered,” on June 30, 1975, during a fleet-wide update.
Journey of the USS Nimitz from Concept to Commission
The USS Nimitz was approved by the U.S. Congress in 1967, and Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia got a contract worth $106.5 million (about $973.17 million today) to build it.
The keel was laid down on June 22, 1968, and the ship was named on May 13, 1972, by Catherine Nimitz Lay, Admiral Nimitz’s daughter, six years after his passing.
The Nimitz was delivered to the Navy in 1975 and officially commissioned at Naval Station Norfolk on May 3, 1975, by then-President Gerald R. Ford.
Today, the Nimitz is part of Carrier Strike Group Eleven (CSG-11) and serves as the flagship for Carrier Air Wing Seventeen (CVW-17), also housing the commander of Destroyer Squadron 9.
The USS Nimitz’ Legacy of Service & Adaptation
The Nimitz was based at Naval Station Norfolk until 1987, when it moved to Naval Station Bremerton in Washington (now part of Naval Base Kitsap).
After a major overhaul in 2001, its home port changed to Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego County, California. In 2012, the Nimitz moved again to Naval Station Everett in Washington.
In January 2015, it returned to Naval Base Kitsap. After the USS Enterprise was deactivated in 2012 and officially retired in 2017, the Nimitz became the oldest U.S. aircraft carrier still in service and the oldest serving aircraft carrier in the world.
The USS Nimitz has since returned to its homeport in Bremerton on June 22. It had just returned to service on June 22 after spending seven months in port for planned maintenance. (ref)
The Next Steps for USS Nimitz
Huntington Ingalls Inc. in Newport News, Virginia, has received an $18,394,985 contract modification for planning the defueling and inactivation of the USS Nimitz.
The work will take place in Newport News and is expected to be completed by November 2024. The funding for this contract comes from the Navy’s 2024 operations and maintenance budget, and it will be allocated at the time of the award, expiring at the end of the current fiscal year.
The contract was part of an August 28 list of Defense Department projects, and Naval Sea Systems Command will manage the work.(ref)
Even after retirement, parts from the USS Nimitz will still be used in the fleet, keeping her legacy alive through sister carriers and the new Gerald R. Ford-class ships.
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The mighty U.S. aircraft carriers, often called floating cities, have earned a reputation for being incredibly difficult to sink. When the Navy tried to deliberately sink the USS America in 2005, it took nearly four weeks of continuous bombardment before the massive vessel finally went under.
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Nancy Maffia
Nancy received a bachelor’s in biology from Elmira College and a master’s degree in horticulture and communications from the University of Kentucky. Worked in plant taxonomy at the University of Florida and the L. H. Bailey Hortorium at Cornell University, and wrote and edited gardening books at Rodale Press in Emmaus, PA. Her interests are plant identification, gardening, hiking, and reading.
