The USS Nimitz arrived back at its homeport of Bremerton, Washington, on Tuesday, marking what could be the final visit before retirement.

The ship is the world’s oldest aircraft carrier, commissioned in 1975, and is set to return to Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, in 2026 for decommissioning. The Nimitz carries decades of missions and breakthroughs in naval aviation.

It completed a nine month deployment to the US third, fifth and seventh fleet areas after departing Kitsap on March 21.

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During its nine month mission leaders emphasized the importance of credible deterrence and the readiness of the carrier strike group to protect allies and interests abroad.

We have traveled more than two-thirds of this planet during this nine-month deployment, and I cannot overstate the positive impact Nimitz Strike Group has made as part of our mission to maintain peace through strength by sustaining credible deterrence alongside our allies and partners, said Rear Adm. Fred Goldhammer, commander of Carrier Strike Group 11, according to a release.

During the deployment, the carrier spent three months in the Indo Pacific Command area of responsibility and nearly four months in U S Central Command.

In the US Fifth Fleet, the strike group helped set conditions that enabled the Iran Israel ceasefire and supported strikes against Islamic State targets in Somalia.

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The Nimitz also supported operations in the U S Seventh Fleet, providing deterrence in the Indo Pacific and taking part in the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition.

Sailors aboard the Nimitz completed more than 8,500 sorties, logged about seventeen thousand flight hours, carried out fifty replenishments at sea and covered over eighty two thousand nautical miles.

These numbers underscore the ship’s sustained pace and the readiness of the crew to execute complex operations in challenging environments.

Built after the Navy’s first nuclear powered carrier, the Nimitz became the flagship vessel of the ten Nimitz class nuclear carriers.

The storied vessel was named after Fleet Admiral Chester W Nimitz, who served as commander in chief of the U S Pacific Fleet during World War II.

The Nimitz first deployed July 7, 1976, to the Mediterranean, and two years later shifted to the Indian Ocean after Iran took fifty two U S hostages in the wake of an attack on the U S embassy in Tehran, Iran.

The warship participated in Operation Evening Light, which sought to rescue those hostages, but the mission was called off because there were not enough helicopters to complete it. The fifty two hostages were eventually released and returned to the United States.

The Nimitz also supported Operation Desert Storm in the Arabian Gulf in 1991 and Operation Southern Watch in 1993 and 1997.

The carrier was stationed at its homeport of Naval Station Norfolk for twelve years before relocating to Naval Base Kitsap in 1987. It moved again in 2001 to Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, from which it deployed in 2005 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and the war on terrorism.

The Nimitz relocated in 2012 to a new homeport in Everett, Washington, deploying a year later in 2013 to support Operation Enduring Freedom.

The carrier also famously fielded the Navy F 35 Lightning’s first carrier landing at sea.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, the Nimitz began a deployment that would end up becoming the longest since the Vietnam War, clocking in at three hundred forty one days.

In tracking a long arc of service, the Nimitz remains a central asset for American deterrence and presence, a symbol of steady strength even as the Navy looks to its future.

The ship’s legacy continues to inform today’s discussions about readiness, modern warfare, and the way forward for a force built to face evolving challenges.

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