Navy
USS Nimitz will delay retirement, serve into 2027
Stars and Stripes
March 15, 2026
U.S. sailors man the rails on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) during the ship’s departure from Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego, March 14, 2026. Nimitz is underway in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations as part of a scheduled homeport shift to Norfolk, Va. (Peter K. McHaddad/U.S. Navy)
The scheduled retirement of the USS Nimitz will be delayed, and the Navy’s oldest aircraft carrier will serve about 10 months longer than planned.
The Nimitz will remain active through March 2027, the Navy confirmed. It had been scheduled to begin the decommissioning process this year. Breaking Defense first reported the extension.
Extending the Nimitz’s service will allow the Navy to maintain a minimum of 11 active aircraft carriers, as mandated by Congress. The USS John F. Kennedy, the Navy’s next Ford-class aircraft carrier, is scheduled to be delivered and officially commissioned in March 2027.
The Pentagon released details in an announcement Friday, stating that a contract was issued to Huntington Ingalls Inc. in Newport News, Va., “for advance planning and long‑lead‑time material procurement to prepare and make ready for the accomplishment of the inactivation and defueling of USS Nimitz.”
Work “is expected to be completed by March 2027.”
The Nimitz departed its Bremerton, Wash., homeport for the final time on March 7 for military exercises.
The USS Nimitz transits Puget Sound during the ship’s final departure from Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton, Wash., March 7, 2026. (Ibarra Ruiz/U.S. Navy)
“Nimitz is deploying to the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility this spring as part of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet’s Southern Seas 2026 deployment,” Lt. Cmdr. Peter Pagano, a spokesman for the carrier, said in a March 8 email sent from aboard the ship.
The Nimitz, which is shifting its homeport from Kitsap to Naval Station Norfolk, Va., had returned to Bremerton in December from what was expected to be its final deployment.
During that deployment, the ship’s Carrier Air Wing 17 took part in strikes against ISIS targets in Somalia. Overall, squadrons embarked on the Nimitz completed more than 8,500 aircraft sorties, while its jets, reconnaissance planes, and helicopters logged approximately 17,000 flight hours. Port visits included Malaysia, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
The nearly 51‑year‑old carrier, commissioned in May 1975, has served in conflicts and crises spanning the end of the Vietnam War, the Iranian Revolution, the Gulf of Sidra incident, two decades of the Cold War, Operation Desert Storm, the aftermath of 9/11, and wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, as well as numerous lesser‑known operations around the globe.