Free Republic

No. 68 has left the bay. The Navy aircraft carrier Nimitz, which bears the familiar number 68 on its tower, departed San Diego Monday morning, bound for a year of maintenance work in Washington state. Its 2,800-sailor crew called San Diego home for almost a decade. The $4 billion flat-top leaves a question mark in its place at Coronado’s North Island Naval Air Station. The Navy has not revealed whether the Nimitz will return to San Diego in a year – restoring the city to its status as a three-carrier port – or stay in the Puget Sound region. The...

The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 11 began carrier qualifications July 12 off the coast of Southern California. Carrier qualifications test both CVW 11 and the Nimitz crew. "The Nimitz and Air Wing 11 team did a great job of refreshing flight deck currency," said Capt. Eric Wright, Nimitz's air department head. "These operations aren't always fast or error-free, but we operated deliberately and safely. It was a great first day back." Nimitz and CVW-11 will continue to launch and recover aircraft throughout the week of July 12 to qualify and re-qualify pilots, extending...