Looking Back: A Retrospective of USS Nimitz

Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Carson Croom | 230212-N-BI507-1095 SOUTH CHINA SEA (Feb. 12, 2023) Aircraft from Nimitz Carrier...... read more read more

Photo By Petty Officer 2nd Class Carson Croom | 230212-N-BI507-1095 SOUTH CHINA SEA (Feb. 12, 2023) Aircraft from Nimitz Carrier Strike Group (NIMCSG) and Makin Island Amphibious Ready Group (MKI ARG) fly in formation past the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68). NIMCSG and MKI ARG, with embarked 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit (13th MEU), are conducting combined expeditionary strike force (ESF) operations, demonstrating unique high-end war fighting capability, maritime superiority, power projection and readiness. Operations include integrated training designed to advance interoperability between the two groups while simultaneously demonstrating the U.S. commitment to our alliances and partnerships in the Indo-Pacific region. Nimitz is in U.S. 7th Fleet conducting routine operations. 7th Fleet is the U.S. Navy's largest forward-deployed numbered fleet, and routinely interacts and operates with Allies and partners in preserving a free and open Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Carson Croom)  see less | View Image Page

PACIFIC OCEAN

05.03.2023

Story by Petty Officer 1st Class Preston Jarrett 

USS Nimitz (CVN 68)   

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PACIFIC OCEAN - Through a spectrum of deep blue to light green and everything in between, USS Nimitz (CVN 68) has sailed the oceans for nearly half a century, leaving a sea change of American history in its wake. On May 3, Nimitz celebrated its 48th anniversary of commissioned service to the Navy, four days after leaving the colorful coastal city of Pattaya, Thailand.

Less than three weeks earlier on April 22, Nimitz completed its 350,000th arrested aircraft landing – the most of any active carrier – signifying yet another recent milestone for the ship.

Its commissioning date also coincided with the five-month mark of its departure from San Diego for its 30th deployment, the first since its record-breaking 341-day cruise through the U.S. 5th and 7th Fleet areas of operations during the COVID-19 pandemic.

2017 encapsulated the cyclical nature of the U.S. aircraft carrier life cycle: the commissioning of USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) – the first Ford-class carrier – on July 22, and the decommissioning of USS Enterprise (CVN 65) on Feb. 3, which officialized Nimitz as the oldest serving carrier on Earth.

On Jan. 13, 2015, Nimitz arrived at its current home of Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton after a homeport change from Everett, Washington, for a planned maintenance availability.

Nimitz participated in a small piece of naval aviation history when a Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning, the Navy’s fifth-generation Joint Strike Fighter, landed on a carrier at sea for the first time on Nov. 3, 2014. In March the year prior, Nimitz deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The late 2000s were, for Nimitz, characterized by multiple deployments to the Middle East, as well as the ship being the subject of the PBS documentary series “Carrier.” Nimitz’s exemplary performance garnered the Pacific Fleet Battle “E” and Admiral H. Flatley Memorial Award for its 2005 deployment, when the documentary was filmed.

This string of 5th Fleet operations began in March 2003, when the Nimitz Strike Group launched air strikes for Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom.

Nimitz was temporarily relocated to Norfolk, Virginia, from 1998 to 2001 for its refueling and complex overhaul, a massive evolution taken halfway through an aircraft carrier’s projected lifespan. This was immediately preceded by a world tour, or around-the-world-deployment, during which the ship traveled to the Persian Gulf as the only available U.N. asset to enforce sanctions against Iraq.

In 1995, Nimitz provided U.S. Navy presence off the coast of Taiwan during its tense standoff with China. It also relieved USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63) for Operation Southern Watch in 1993, after serving as relief for USS Ranger (CV 61) in Desert Storm, departing on Feb. 25, 1991.

From 1988 to 1989, Nimitz operated in the North Arabian Sea for Operations Earnest Will and Southern Watch. It also provided security for the Seoul Summer Olympics while sailing off the South Korean coast in its initial Western Pacific deployment; the ship’s geographical area of responsibility resulted from its first homeport shift to Bremerton from Norfolk, circumnavigating South America and Africa in the process.

The famed “Gulf of Sidra incident” occurred the morning of Aug. 19, 1981, when two Grumman F-14 Tomcat pilots from the Nimitz Strike Group shot down two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 aircraft after being attacked.

August 1980’s box-office success “The Final Countdown,” starring famed actors Kirk Douglas and Martin Sheen, saw Nimitz going back in time just before the Pearl Harbor attack, forcing the ship’s captain to choose whether or not to change the entire course of WWII.

The well-documented Operation Eagle Claw, also known as Operation Evening Light, was aborted when the number of helicopters required to successfully rescue 52 U.S. hostages from Iran on April 24, 1980, fell below the minimum threshold. The aircraft were launched from Nimitz; two suffered mechanical failures due to violent sandstorms.

Nimitz won a Battle “E” for its performance as the most efficient and foremost aircraft carrier in the Atlantic during its 1977-1976 deployment, also the ship’s first ever.

At the outset, USS Nimitz (CVAN 68), the first ship of its class and the largest warship ever built, was commissioned on May 3, 1975, at pier 12 of Naval Station Norfolk. Then-President Gerald R. Ford spoke during the ceremony, closing with the following remarks:

“Fleet Admiral Nimitz and this fine ship both tell us that controlled strength is the sure guarantor of peace. Let us all – and particularly those who serve on the United States Ship Nimitz now and hereafter – rededicate ourselves to this principle, and to unstinting service to our country and to its people.

Good afternoon, and Godspeed.”