A Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan Dunfee, of Shadyside, Ohio, mans the USS Ronald Reagan's rails as the aircraft carrier approaches Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Wash., Aug. 13, 2024. (Ryan Freiburghaus/U.S. Navy)
Sailors manned the rails of the USS Ronald Reagan on Tuesday as the aircraft carrier steamed through Puget Sound toward Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Wash., for a scheduled overhaul.
The ship arrived just three days after leaving Naval Air Station North Island, Calif., where it exchanged approximately 350 sailors — or about 13% of its crew — with the carrier USS George Washington.
“Even though Ronald Reagan’s time in 7th Fleet is over, we are still in the fight,” Capt. Daryle Cardone, the ship’s skipper, said Tuesday in a Navy news release. “The success of our previous deployments is a testament of the crew’s warfighting capability and displays our adaptability in an ever-changing theater.”
The Ronald Reagan’s accomplishments while under 7th Fleet will carry over as the crew prepares for the ship’s “next chapter,” he added.
The carrier was one of four Navy flattops on the move in the Indo-Pacific.
The George Washington is set to replace the Ronald Reagan as the centerpiece of 7th Fleet’s Carrier Strike Group 5 at Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan.
On Aug. 1, the two carriers began their exchange, which included personnel and aircraft from Carrier Air Wing 5 and staff from Task Force 70 and Destroyer Squadron 15.
The George Washington’s whereabouts, or whether it had left California, were not immediately clear on Wednesday.
Spokespeople for Naval Forces Japan, U.S. 3rd Fleet, the USS Ronald Reagan and USS George Washington did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails requesting comment.
The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan steams through Puget Sound toward its new homeport, Naval Base Kitsap, in Bremerton, Wash., Aug. 13, 2024. (Heather Wamsley/U.S. Navy)
USS Ronald Reagan sailors man the rails as the aircraft carrier arrives at its new homeport, Naval Base Kitsap, in Bremerton, Wash., Aug. 13, 2024. (Kevin Steffanson/U.S. Navy)
Meanwhile, the USS Abraham Lincoln and its strike group were en route through the Indo-Pacific to relieve the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the waters around the Arabian Peninsula. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday ordered the ballistic-missile submarine USS Georgia to make for the area and the Abraham Lincoln to speed up its voyage.
The carrier strike group left Guam and Saipan on Aug. 8 after a four-day port call.
A growing U.S. naval presence in the Middle East, from the Eastern Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, aims to forestall Iran from starting a war with Israel in retaliation for last month’s assassination of Hamas’ political leader Ismail Hamiyeh in Tehran. Israel has not publicly commented on the killing but told U.S. officials it was responsible, according to The Associated Press.
The Navy is also part of a coalition shielding commercial shipping in the Red Sea and neighboring waters from attacks by missiles and drones supplied by Iran to Houthi militants in Yemen.
The fourth carrier, USS Carl Vinson, left Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on Aug. 5, according to USNI News. On Monday, it was in the Eastern Pacific, according to Navy.mil.
The Ronald Reagan spent nine years in Yokosuka starting in 2015, when it replaced the George Washington. The two carriers swapped nearly two-thirds of their respective 3,000 crewmembers at the time.
The George Washington arrived at Newport News, Va., in 2017 for nuclear refueling and maintenance — a process significantly delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and other setbacks.
The Ronald Reagan’s maintenance period is scheduled to take place at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, also in Bremerton, Wash.
