Twenty-six ships from 13 partner and allied nations steam in formation with Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) as part of Fleet Exercise (FLEETEX) 250 in the Atlantic Ocean, June 25, 2026. US Navy photo
July 3, 2026 8:57 AM
ABOARD USS NIMITZ UNDERWAY IN THE ATLANTIC ― Approximately 100 miles off the coast of North Carolina, a 14-nation armada converged in the blue waters of the Atlantic. Twenty-six ships from every corner of the world – including the U.S., Norway, Brazil, Morocco, Turkey and South Korea – synchronized at sea last week in a massive demonstration of deterrence and diplomacy.
At the forefront of it all was USS Nimitz (CVN-68), the U.S. Navy’s oldest aircraft carrier in active service.
“She is still a relevant warship today,” Capt. Joseph Furco, commanding officer of Nimitz, told reporters aboard the carrier.
Nimitz was the first in a series of nuclear-powered super carriers that have remained the centerpiece of American power projection. Now, 51 years after the ship was commissioned in 1975, Nimitz is returning to where it all began – Naval Station Norfolk, Va. – in preparation for the end of its service life.
Nimitz is shifting its homeport from Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Wash., to Norfolk, where it will be deactivated in March of 2027 and dismantled in 2030, according to the Navy’s 30-year Shipbuilding Plan released in this year. Nimitz was previously slated to leave active service in May this year, but the Navy opted to keep the carrier in the fleet for at least 10 additional months, coinciding with when the future John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) is set to deliver to the Navy, USNI News previously reported.
But Nimitz still has a lot of life left to give, Furco said as he looked out the windows of the flag bridge.
“My tongue-in-cheek explanation is I am the third ‘last CO’ of USS Nimitz. Six months from now – rhetorically – what is going on in the world? What does our nation’s leadership ask of the military? What is our senior military leadership going to ask of the Navy on down the line? Nimitz absolutely can have a role,” Furco said.
Nimitz joined the two dozen warships from 13 other nations on June 25 as part of a photo exercise for FLEETEX 250, the largest East Coast-based gathering of foreign warships in decades. The aging carrier’s participation in the major exercise comes on the heels of its Southern Seas 2026 deployment, which saw Nimitz circumnavigate South America and spend time in the Caribbean while en route to the East Coast.
Now, Nimitz is on the final leg of its journey, traveling from Mayport, Fla., to New York City for the 250th celebration of the U.S. before making its way to Norfolk.
Aboard the carrier, the passageways and the hangar bay buzzed with activity – not a busy hum of aviation maintenance or sailors scrambling to grab food between shifts, but instead with a relaxed energy as sailors and their loved ones toured the carrier. The carrier picked family members up in Mayport for a multi-day tiger cruise, where they were able to experience Nimitz alongside their sailor before the ship leaves the active fleet.
The hangar bay was empty of aircraft and instead one side was stacked tall with refrigerated shipping containers and supplies, while the other side was a makeshift basketball court and gym. Groups of sailors and family members played basketball, backlit by the sun reflecting off the Atlantic Ocean. Warships dotted the horizon, creeping closer to Nimitz as the day progressed.
For Dave Ziemba, a retired Navy captain, last week’s cruise was his first – and last – opportunity to revisit Nimitz. In the summer of 1976, then-21-year-old Ziemba spent four weeks aboard Nimitz for his first-class Midshipman cruise while the ship was deployed to the Mediterranean. At the time, Nimitz was on its first operational deployment. Now 50 years later, Ziemba returned for the first time to Nimitz to visit his son, an assistant reactor officer on the carrier.
“It brought back a lot of memories …The stairs seem steeper and longer than I remember,” Ziemba said with a laugh.
Ziemba served in the Navy as a surface warfare officer, retiring at 26 years. He commanded the former USS Reid (FFG-30), which was decommissioned in 1998, and USS Blue Ridge (LCC-19), but he also served aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72).
“I was going around [Abraham Lincoln] trying to find spaces. I could remember flag spaces were here and my stateroom was somewhere over here. I got lost, but it was great,” Ziemba said.
Ziemba and his wife flew to Mayport from Arizona to set sail with their son, spending June 24-27 at sea on the carrier.
“It was more so about seeing our son in a senior leadership position,” Ziemba said of their excitement to be on Nimitz. “[Our son] would be running around the ship when I had command of the frigate and Blue Ridge – chiefs and junior engineers would tell me, ‘That boy of yours is asking a lot of questions, keeping them on their toes.’ That was when he was eight and 10 years old.”
Now 36 years old, Ziemba’s son is serving aboard Nimitz during the ship’s final stretch, bringing the family’s service and Nimitz’s service full circle, he said.
Nimitz’s first operational deployment to the Mediterranean began on July 7, 1976. This seven-month cruise included port calls in Rota, Spain; Tangier, Morocco; Tunis, Tunisia; Gibraltar; and Naples and Taranto, Italy. The ship spent a total of 77 days in port in Naples over multiple visits.
As the second-ever nuclear-powered carrier after USS Enterprise (CVN-65), which was decommissioned in 2017, Nimitz attracted dignitaries, such as King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia of Spain, who visited Nimitz shortly after the ship’s arrival in the Mediterranean. The carrier also encountered Russian ships and aircraft during its cruise.
For many aboard Nimitz, the seven-month deployment was the longest period they’d ever spent underway, USNI News previously reported.
On the flight deck and in the hangar bay last week, sailors touched up paint on Nimitz ahead of the ship sailing to New York City. There, the carrier will be available for tours as part of the nation’s 250th celebration. Nimitz is expected to return to Norfolk by mid-July.
Over the most recent 24 months, Nimitz has spent 21 months underway.
“Do I have more rust on places here than John F. Kennedy does? Of course I do, and I would never argue that. But our ability to function has never, ever, once been questioned, and we have proven that, and continue to prove it every day,” Furco said.
On March 26, 2025, Nimitz slipped its moorings and sailed out of San Diego Bay on its last deployment for which it was certified for national tasking. The carrier returned to Bremerton for the last time on Dec. 7, 2025, following a nine-month deployment that took the carrier to the Philippine and South China seas.
https://slgusni.github.io/maps/nimitz_final_journey_v2.html
In June of 2025, the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group set sail for the Middle East, where it operated alongside the Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group. The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group arrived in the Middle East, hanging in the Arabian Sea, on the same day the U.S. struck three Iranian nuclear sites as part of Operation Midnight Hammer.
In March of 2026, just three months after returning from deployment, Nimitz began its journey to Virginia, stopping at various South American and Caribbean ports to host dignitaries from Panama and Brazil, the presidents of Uruguay and Guyana, and government and military officials from Trinidad and Tobago and Chile.
“And we operated alongside them with exercises. It could be as basic as just establishing communication for some,” Furco said. “It could be something as complex as this – but much smaller scale than what you’re seeing right now – steaming alongside these other ships, search and rescue exercises, et cetera, and, of course, pulling into some port calls along the way so that these other countries could see what America is about. When we were operating at sea, they could see how America operated, how we are that professional Navy, and how we can and should be the partner of choice for those in our neck of the woods, and frankly, throughout the world.”
Nimitz will eventually go to HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding, which will begin the carrier’s deactivation and defuel the reactor, USNI News previously reported.
But over the next eight months, Nimitz will serve as a training platform, with short stints at sea to qualify new aviators expected to begin in the fall, according to Furco.
“I can take this ship to sea with a thousand of the sailors from John F. Kennedy, from John C. Stennis (CVN-74), from Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) – the ones that might be in extended yard periods – to give those sailors a little taste of what their job is like outside the academic setting,” Furco said.
Because Nimitz is not slated to deploy in the traditional sense, the carrier can get underway to accommodate training requirements without disrupting deployment and maintenance schedules, Furco said.
Should the nation call on Nimitz in the next eight months, the ship will be ready, Furco said.
“We are still an active warship, and will be an active warship up until the day they sign the paperwork and say, ‘You guys are done now. Let’s start recycling the parts,’” Furco said.
Caitlyn Burchett
Caitlyn Burchett is the managing editor of USNI News. She previously covered the Navy and Marine Corps for Stars and Stripes and regional defense news for The Virginian-Pilot. Follow @CaitlynBurchett