The USS Ronald Reagan arrives at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., in August 2024. The aircraft carrier went into a 17-month maintenance at the shipyard in March 2025. (Gary Warner/Stars and Stripes)
BREMERTON, Wash. — The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan has begun a maintenance stint that will keep it from deployment for 17 months, Navy officials said.
The Reagan, commissioned in July 2003 was homeported at Yokosuka, Japan, from 2015 to 2024 to bolster U.S. forces in the eastern Pacific region and counter Chinese naval expansion. The carrier moved to Naval Base Kitsap, Wash., in 2024, with the USS George Washington replacing it in Japan.
For the overhaul, the Reagan is moved to dry dock at Bremerton, where all the water is drained out, allowing workers access to the hull, propellers and other machinery that is normally submerged. Upgrades and repairs are completed incrementally.
Of the 11 aircraft carriers in the Navy, the Reagan and the USS John C. Stennis are unavailable now for sea duty.
The Stennis has been at HII-Newport News Shipbuilding, Va., since 2021 undergoing maintenance that includes modernization and the time-consuming refueling of the nuclear reactors to allow for an additional 25 years of operations on the ship’s 50-year projected service lifespan.
The Stennis overhaul has been plagued by workforce and material delays in what is usually a four-year process. But the Stennis is not expected to emerge from the shipyard until as late as 2027.
Under Navy plans, the USS Harry S. Truman would be the next carrier to have that kind of multiyear overhaul, which is only done at the Newport News facility. It would be followed by the Reagan and the last Nimitz carrier to be built, the USS George W. Bush.
The Reagan shares Kitsap as a homeport with the USS Nimitz, which is operating in the eastern Pacific for what is expected to be its final deployment before returning briefly to the West Coast and then traveling to Norfolk Naval Station, Va., by April 2026 to begin its retirement. The Nimitz is the oldest carrier in the fleet. It was commissioned in May 1975.
Capt. John Hale, commander of Naval Base Kitsap, said the base could accommodate the ship’s approximately 2,800 crew members in local housing.
An auxiliary personnel lighter, which is a floating apartment and work complex on a barge that the Navy has used in the past for temporary housing of sailors when their ships are under maintenance, will be available for day use, offices and storage, he said. But it will not be used for overnight stays.
During the 17 months at the shipyard, the crew of the Reagan will perform some duties on the ship but are also routinely assigned additional work around the base. Sailors recently took part in a cleanup effort around the Bremerton complex at the sprawling 12,000-acre base, which also includes ballistic-missile and attack submarine squadrons based at Bangor.
Under a Navy plan proposed last week, the USS John F. Kennedy, the second of the new Ford-class aircraft carriers, would homeport at Kitsap beginning in 2029. The Kennedy is scheduled to be commissioned into the fleet in the summer.
Because of the significantly higher electrical needs of the Ford-class carriers, Kitsap must undergo a $300 million overhaul of its substations and wiring to the dock areas to accommodate the ships. The Kennedy would remain on the East Coast at Naval Base Norfolk undergoing post-commissioning sea trials until the work at Bremerton is completed.
Two additional Ford-class carriers, the future USS Enterprise and USS Dorris Miller are under construction at Newport News.
Earlier this year, the Navy announced two more Ford carriers would be built and named after presidents — the USS William J. Clinton and USS George W. Bush.
