[kms61]

The speed of the battle group is dictated by the speed of the slowest ship. In addition, high speed put's a lot more wear and tear on the machinery, and burns a whole lot more fuel...not a consideration with Nimitz, but definitely a factor with the non-nuclear components of the group.

I seem to recall reading that steaming speeds of more than about 25 knots are a rarity even among ships capable of much faster.

[Blood of Tyrants]

It an emergency situation, the Nimitz would rely on her speed instead of the protection of the battle group to avoid the enemy. The rest of the battle group would catch up later. (I have seen this happen first hand.)

However, as I posted above, I just did the math and determined that it would take at least 10 days for the Nimitz to get there.

But since the Nimitz's power is in her aircraft, there is no reason that they (and a contingent of maintaince personnell) can't be sent on over to be land based until she gets there. The planes can be there tomorrow.