The 50 12 months previous nuclear-powered plane service returned to Bremerton, Washington on Dec. 16, 2025 after its ultimate scheduled deployment.
USS Nimitz (CVN-68), the oldest commissioned plane service on the earth, is scheduled to be formally decommissioned in Could 2026 – 51 years after coming into service. After post-deployment upkeep at Naval Base Kitsap, Bremerton, the Nimitz will make a ultimate voyage to Norfolk, Virginia, both through the Strait of Magellan or round Cape Horn on the very southern tip of South America.
FINAL HOMECOMING | There are few corners of the world the united statesNimitz has not visited because it was commissioned in 1975.
Half a century later, the Navy’s oldest plane service arrived house at Naval Base Kitsap this week for the ultimate time forward of its scheduled decommissioning… pic.twitter.com/Zsf84GFqwv
— Stars and Stripes (@starsandstripes) December 16, 2025
Following an official decommissioning ceremony the ship will probably be stripped of remaining helpful components, tools, and shops in a course of generally known as the Ship Terminal Off-load Program, or STOP. After round 12 months, Nimitz will probably be handed over to Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) at Newport Information to start the lengthy strategy of defueling and eradicating the 2 Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors. This course of will probably be distinctive – the one nuclear powered plane service to beforehand be decommissioned being the one-of-a-kind USS Enterprise (CVN-65), which as a substitute featured eight A2W reactors.
HII was initially awarded the contract to hold out these works on Mar. 13, 2025 with none competitors, the Newport Information operation – which has constructed each one of many U.S. Navy’s nuclear plane carriers – being the only contractor thought of to have the required expertise to finish the undertaking. The March 2025 contract, value $22.3 million, set out the potential for the entire worth of the works concerned to finally attain $358 million if all choices have been exercised.
On Dec. 23, 2025, HII was awarded a modification to the preliminary contract value $33.4 million. Set to run till March 2026, this cash will probably be used to finalize superior planning forward of the decommissioning course of and procure long-lead supplies. Observe-on contract modifications are anticipated to maintain work by October 2027.
Last Deployment
The Nimitz sailed for its final scheduled deployment on Mar. 21, 2025, main Service Strike Group 11 (CSG 11) with Destroyer Squadron 9 (DESRON 9) and carrying Service Air Wing 17 (CVW-17). Heading first to the Indo-Pacific, the Nimitz made port calls in Guam and Malaysia in between workouts with regional allies. Tragedy struck the ship in Guam when crew member Gabriel D. Holt was reported lacking after having final been seen on Apr. 18. A search spanning 11,000 sq. miles did not find the sailor, and the search was known as off on Apr. 24.
Heightening tensions between Israel and Iran noticed CSG 11 ordered in direction of the Center East sooner than deliberate, bypassing a scheduled go to to Vietnam. The strike group relieved the united statesCarl Vinson’s strike group and arrived station within the Arabian Sea on the evening of Operation Midnight Hammer.
Three months later, the Nimitz CSG headed again by the Strait of Malacca for continued operations with the U.S. Seventh Fleet. It was there, within the South China Sea, on Oct. 26 {that a} F/A-18F Tremendous Hornet and MH-60R Seahawk working from the service each crashed into the ocean inside half-hour of one another. All personnel have been safely rescued, and the plane themselves have been recovered from the seabed in early December.
On the way in which again to the U.S., the Nimitz known as into Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, for a ultimate port name forward of reaching the west coast. Sailors lined the sting of the flight deck carrying gown white uniforms and saluted the wreck of the united statesArizona, which was sunk by Japanese plane on Dec. 7, 1941 and serves as a memorial to the assault, because the ship handed by. Notably, in 1980, the Nimitz starred as the principle setting for The Last Countdown, which noticed the service – having set sail from Pearl Harbor – transported by a mysterious electrical storm again to Dec. 6, 1941. The ship’s captain, performed by Kirk Douglas, deliberates along with his senior officers and a civilian techniques analyst, performed by Martin Sheen, about whether or not to intervene within the upcoming Japanese assault and alter the historic timeline. Made with the complete cooperation of the U.S. Division of Protection, filming was carried out on board the Nimitz and used plane from the ship’s air wing in addition to crew members as extras.
After Hawaii, the Nimitz visited San Diego, California, which it beforehand known as house for 11 years. The 2 day go to, from Dec. 7 to Dec. 9, allowed a ultimate farewell between town and the ship, whereas the air wing – most of which relies at Naval Air Stations Lemoore and North Island, each in California, was capable of disembark and head house forward of the port name.
USS Nimitz (CVN 68) Nimitz-class plane service leaving San Diego – December 9, 2025 SRC: YT- SanDiegoWebcam pic.twitter.com/OMniMd3XqS
— WarshipCam (@WarshipCam) December 9, 2025
Every week later, on Dec. 16, the Nimitz sailed into Naval Base Kitsap for the final time after half a century of operations. The Nimitz class that it gave its identify to will dwell on for many years to come back, with the final ship within the class – USS George H. W. Bush (CVN 77) – anticipated to stay in service till 2059. Nimitz’s alternative is because of be the united statesJohn F. Kennedy (CVN 79), the second service within the Gerald R. Ford class, which is scheduled for commissioning in March 2027.
