America’s oldest active aircraft carrier, USS Nimitz (CVN 68), has entered the retirement planning phase after the US Navy awarded Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) a $33.5 million contract modification to begin advance planning and long-lead material procurement for the carrier’s inactivation and defueling.
As disclosed, the work on the shio will be performed in Newport News, Virginia, and is expected to be completed by March 2026.
USS Nimitz is a nuclear-powered supercarrier of the US Navy and the lead ship of its class, ranking among the largest warships ever built. Originally laid down, launched, and commissioned as CVAN-68, the carrier was redesignated CVN-68 on June 30, 1975, as part of a broader fleet realignment that formalized its role as a multi-mission, nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.
Throughout its service life, USS Nimitz has shifted homeports in line with operational requirements. The vessel was initially based at Naval Station Norfolk until 1987, when it relocated to Naval Station Bremerton in Washington State, now part of Naval Base Kitsap.
Following a refueling and complex overhaul completed in 2001, the carrier’s homeport was moved to Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego. Subsequent realignments saw Nimitz transferred to Naval Station Everett in 2012, before returning to Naval Base Kitsap in January 2015, where it has remained since.
Final deployment
USS Nimitz returned homeport in Bremerton, Washington, on December 16 after a demanding nine-month deployment that spanned the US 3rd, 5th and 7th Fleet areas of operations. During the deployment, the Nimitz-led Carrier Strike Group 11 sailed more than two-thirds of the globe, working alongside allied and partner navies to strengthen interoperability and promote regional stability.
The strike group’s operations included three months in the Indo-Pacific Command area and nearly four months under US Central Command, where USS Nimitz supported freedom of navigation efforts in the Arabian Sea and completed four transits of the Strait of Hormuz.
Port visits to Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates marked the first US aircraft carrier calls in Bahrain and the UAE in more than five years, underscoring renewed engagement with Gulf partners. In the Indo-Pacific, the ship participated in the Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition and conducted routine port calls in Malaysia and Guam.
Nimitz Carrier Strike Group consists of USS Nimitz, flagship of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 11, embarked staff of CSG 11, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 9, embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 17, and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers Curtis Wilbur (DDG 54), Wayne E. Meyer (DDG 108), USS Lenah Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG 123) and USS Gridley (DDG 101).