U.S. Navy’s Oldest Aircraft Carrier Leaves For Final Deployment Before Being Decommissioned

The U.S. Navy’s oldest aircraft carrier has set sail for what might be its last deployment before it is decommissioned.

USS Nimitz was commissioned in 1975 and since then has been a part of several missions. It had a lifespan of 50 years and is nearing its end.

The ship left the Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, for Indo-Pacific. The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group reached California after leaving Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington, on March 21, 2025.

After the deployment, the ship will be sent for decommissioning in 2026, with intentions to utilise its salvageable parts for her sister vessels.

The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group includes aircraft carrier Nimitz, and 9 squadrons of Carrier Air Wing 17, 4 Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers of Destroy Squadron 9.

USS Nimitz completed a 6-month deployment to the Indo-Pacific in 2023 and was a part of U.S Indo-Pacific Command’s Large Scale Global Exercise and also offered disaster relief to Guan after Typhoon Mawar.

In its new deployment, the strike group would focus on safeguarding the freedom, safety and prosperity of the U.S, its allies and partners to demonstrate the navy’s commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region, per the U.S Navy release.

USS Nimitz is one of the biggest ships in the world which was first deployed in 1976 to the Mediterranean. It was also a part of Operation Desert Storm and Operation Southern Watch in the 1990s. It also supported Operation Iraqi Freedom and the global war on terrorism.

Nimitz is now in its 50th year of serving the U.S Navy and has a long legacy of building alliances and partnerships, projecting power overseas and demonstrating the power of cooperation and teamwork in maintaining peace and security, per the Navy release.

References: San.com, Navy Times

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