Aircraft Carrier Diplomacy

Earlier this month, President Trump had suggested that the U.S. Navy could redeploy the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) to the Caribbean, but the logistics would make that extremely difficult. The fourth Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier is based in San Diego.

It deployed with little fanfare in late November and was operating in the South China Sea in January when it was dispatched to the Arabian Sea as part of the U.S. military buildup in the Middle East in the lead-up to Operation Epic Fury, the aerial campaign launched against Iran on February 28.

It should be noted that the USS Nimitz was not actually deployed to the Caribbean, but is operating in SOUTHCOM’s area of responsibility as it shifts homeport from Naval Base Kitsap, Bremerton, Wash., to Naval Station Norfolk, Va. CVN-68, which completed her last overseas deployment in December, sailed around South America and transited the Strait of Magellan as she is too large to cross from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean via the Panama Canal.

USS Nimitz has been taking part in the Southern Seas 2026 deployment and has conducted several joint exercises with the maritime forces of regional allies and partners. She has also hosted numerous Latin American officials, beginning soon after the carrier departed Bremerton and was underway in the 4th Fleet area of operations.

Although this is very much a goodwill and goodbye tour for USS Nimitz, which is now scheduled to be decommissioned in March 2027, nearly 52 years after she first entered service on May 3, 1975, she is still an active supercarrier. CVW-17 consists of nine primary squadrons flying the F/A-18 Super Hornet, the EA-18G Growler, E-2D Hawkeye, C-2A Greyhounds, and MH-60 Seahawk helicopters.

The ongoing Operation Southern Spear, the narcotic interdiction mission in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, is also supported by multiple other warships, including the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group.

USS Nimitz Surpassed The Service Length of USS Enterprise

As of this month, USS Nimitz is now the longest serving U.S. Navy carrier. She surpassed the active service of the U.S. Navy’s first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise (CVN-65), which was commissioned on Nov. 26, 1961, and deactivated on Dec. 1, 2012.

“No carrier had ever served half a century before Enterprise passed the mark in 2011,” Stars and Stripes reported on Wednesday. “On May 10, Nimitz set the new mark of 51 years and six days of operational service.”

However, the USS Enterprise was officially decommissioned on February 3, 2017, 55 years and 68 days after commissioning, as it took an additional five years to defuel her nuclear reactors.

Even as USS Nimitz will officially be decommissioned next March, but her recycling is expected to take several years.

After the U.S. Navy's formal decommissioning ceremony, crews will offload equipment, munitions, and all remaining aviation assets.

The then-decommissioned warship will move to Huntington Ingalls Industries' Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, Va., for defueling of its two A4W nuclear reactors. Removing the spent fuel for secure storage and reprocessing could take approximately 30 months. After that point, the carrier will be inactivated and its systems shut down, allowing the removal of all hazardous materials. The hull will then be prepared for towing.

As Stars and Stripes added, the USS Nimitz “may only briefly hold the title of the longest-serving aircraft carrier,” as the second Nimitz-class flattop, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), which was commissioned in 1977, may remain in service until at least the early 2030s as the U.S. Navy struggles to deliver the replacements for the aging carriers on time.

Going The Distance

It should be noted, too, that USS Nimitz is also the longest-serving carrier, but not the longest-serving U.S. Navy vessel.

The USS Constitution, one of the six original frigates built for the U.S. Navy and commissioned in 1797, is technically still in service. The intelligence gathering ship USS Pueblo (AGER-2) is the second-oldest commissioned ship, as she was seized by North Korea in 1968 and is now a museum ship in Pyongyang.

Finally, it is the USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19), lead ship of the U.S. Navy’s class of amphibious command ships, which has the distinction of being the oldest actively deployed warship. Commissioned in November 1970, she flies the “First Navy Jack” to denote her unique status. Given that the U.S. Navy plans to keep LCC-19 in active service until 2039, it is unlikely any aircraft carrier will serve as long.