The US Navy has kick-started the process of retiring its oldest aircraft carrier, the USS Nimitz.

The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Huntington Ingalls Inc. a $18.4 million contract to manage the initial planning for deactivating the nuclear power reactors on the Nimitz, the first stage of the carrier’s decommissioning and ultimate disposal.

The contract reportedly states that a deactivation plan must be delivered to the Navy by November 2024.

The US Navy’s oldest aircraft carrier is scheduled to be deactivated by 2027, 49 years after it was put into service. This contract was among the many projects approved by the Defense Department on August 28. Naval Sea Systems has been tasked with overseeing the deactivation.

USS Nimitz is the first in a class of ten nuclear-powered aircraft carriers built on the same design. It bears the name of Chester Nimitz, a former five-star admiral who led the Navy during World War II.

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The aircraft carrier has served the US Navy for nearly five decades, bolstering its combat power and engaging in a host of critical missions. It will be the first of the ten Nimitz-class carriers to be retired.

After spending more than half a year at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for what the U.S. Navy calls a “planned incremental availability,” the USS Nimitz set sail in June 2024. The Navy announced that the ship’s flight deck and aircraft elevators were updated during the port stay, and the combat system and its berthing features were modernized.

Despite being the oldest carrier in the US Naval fleet, USS Nimitz has been the flag bearer of US power projection in the far seas. Last year, the Nimitz was involved in freedom of navigation operations inside the South China Sea amid burgeoning tensions with Beijing and increased volatility in the region. Before that, the carrier completed a historic 340-day deployment between April 2020 and February 2021.

Earlier, the USS Nimitz was scheduled to be retired by 2025, followed by USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in 2026. However, because of delays in the commissioning of Ford-class carriers, the USS Nimitz’s decommissioning date was moved forward by a year.

Unlike the USS Nimitz, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower carrier will continue in service till the end of this decade.

The Navy earlier stated that there was an increased need for carrier strike groups to respond to global crises, such as the current tensions in the Red Sea and Taiwan Strait which led to the postponement in the retirement of the Nimitz and Eisenhower.

Notwithstanding the USS Nimitz’s significance as a symbol of US nuclear-powered strike capability, the USS Gerard R. Ford, a new class of super-carriers, is poised to carry on the legacy.

“Nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, which will remain the most survivable and versatile airfields in the world, provide long-range, persistent sea control, power projection and organic sensing in contested seas, as well as flexible options across the spectrum of conflict,” the Navy’s shipbuilding plan released last year observed.

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The USS Nimitz was inducted into service on May 3, 1975, by former American President Gerald Ford, in whose honor the US Navy’s latest supercarrier is named. These advanced carriers are believed to be the biggest ever built in the world and boast cutting-edge capabilities that will give a massive boost to the US blue water navy.

USS Ford Carriers Are The Biggest, Most Powerful 

The USS John F. Kennedy, the newest carrier of the Ford class, was supposed to replace the USS Nimitz in 2025, as per the original plan. Two more Gerald Ford-class vessels, the USS Enterprise, and the USS Doris Miller, are currently under construction.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the first of this class, is widely regarded as the most advanced aircraft carrier. It is the world’s largest warship and boasts exceptional dimensions: It measures 1,092 feet (333 meters) in length, with a beam of 256 feet (78 meters) at its flight deck and a height of 250 feet (76 meters).

The carrier was deployed to the US Central Command (CENTCOM) area of duty in the wake of the Israel-Hamas war that started in October 2023.

At that time, a statement published by CENTCOM read, “The United States has begun moving USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Eastern Mediterranean. This includes the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60), as well as the Arleigh-Burke-class guided missile destroyers USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116), USS Ramage (DDG 61), USS Carney (DDG 64), and USS Roosevelt (DDG 80).”

Before this deployment, the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group had been in the Mediterranean Sea since June 2023, when the US decided to resume a constant presence in the region. This marked the carrier group’s first full deployment.

The USS Gerald R. Ford is the world’s first aircraft carrier to be outfitted with an electromagnetically powered aircraft launch system (EMALS). Compared to the conventional steam-powered catapults of the Nimitz-class carriers, EMALS has several benefits, such as smoother acceleration at both high and low speeds and more precise end-speed control.

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