Home > USS Nimitz (CVN-68)

The USS Nimitz (CVN-68) is a supercarrier in the United States Navy, the lead ship of its class. It is one of the largest warships in the world.

The keel of the Nimitz was laid down 22 June 1968 by Newport News Shipbuilding in Newport News, VirginiaNewport News is an independent city located in Virginia. It is on the southern end of the Virginia Peninsula, on the north shore of Hampton Roads. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 180,150. The name of Newport News has ever been a, and she was commissioned 3 May 1975 by President Gerald FordGerald Rudolph Ford, Jr. born July 14, 1913) (born Leslie Lynch King, Jr. renamed after adoption) was the fortieth ( 1973 1974) Vice President and the thirty-eighth ( 1974 1977) President of the United States. He remains the only individual to serve as Pr. The ship was named for Admiral Chester NimitzChester William Nimitz ( February 24, 1885 February 20, 1966) was the Commander in Chief of Pacific Forces for the United States and Allied forces during World War II. He was the nation's leading authority on submarines, as well as Chief of the Navy Burea, who commanded the Pacific fleet in World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough.

Nimitz first deployed to the Mediterranean, departing 7 July 1976, in company with the cruisers USS South Carolina and USS California. This was the first time in ten years that the US had deployed nuclear-powered ships in the Mediterranean. The cruise was uneventful, and Nimitz returned to Norfolk, Virginia 7 February 1977. A second Mediterranean cruise 1977-1978 was similarly quiet, but on the third cruise, which began 10 September 1979, Nimitz was the launchpad for Operation Evening Light, the attempt to rescue the US Embassy workers being held hostage in Tehran, Iran. The mission was aborted when helicopters crashed at a rendezvous point in the Iranian desert. The ship finally returned home 26 May 1980.

In the following year, one of Nimitz's EA-6B Prowlers crash-landed on its flight deck, killing 14 crewmen and injuring 45 others.

In the Gulf of Sidra incident (1981), while conducting a freedom of navigation exercise in the Gulf of Sidra near what Libya had proclaimed as the "line of death", two aircraft of Nimitz's VF-41 were fired on by Libyan pilots, but they returned fire and shot down both Libyans.

In 1987, Nimitz changed home ports to Bremerton, Washington. She left from there on 25 February 1991 to relieve USS Ranger in Operation Desert Storm, returning herself on 24 August. She deployed again to the Gulf for several months in 1993, relieving USS Kitty Hawk during Operation Southern Watch. In March 1996, she was deployed to patrol the waters off Taiwan amid missile tests by the PRC in the area, becoming the first U.S. warship to pass though the Taiwan Strait since 1976.

On 1 September 1997, Nimitz began an around-the-world cruise with the destination of Newport News, for a mid-life refueling overhaul that lasted until 25 June 2001. She then changed home port to San Diego, California, arriving there on 13 November 2001.

In mid-April 2003, Nimitz relieved Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) in the Persian Gulf.