The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) sails past Seattle as it transits the Puget Sound on its way to Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton on Jan. 20, 2019. Vinson is scheduled to change homeports to Bremerton. US Navy photo.
Aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70) has entered a drydock at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility in Bremerton, Wash., to start a docking planned incremental availability.
The 37-year-old carrier – the third oldest in the fleet – entered the drydock on Feb. 28 and will undergo repair and modernization efforts to keep the ship ready for its next deployment cycle. Naval Air Forces declined to say how long the maintenance availability would last.
“We have successfully executed our move from San Diego to Bremerton, and we could not feel more at home,” Vinson Commanding Officer Capt. Matthew Paradise said in a video recently posted to the ship’s social media accounts, referring to the homeport shift from San Diego to Bremerton ahead of the start of the maintenance period.
Paradise said the crew was ready to work hard on “the maintenance, the upgrades, all focused on getting Carl Vinson ready for the air wing of the future.”
Vinson will likely host the first carrier strike group deployment to include the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter in its next deployment cycle, USNI News has previously reported.
The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70), the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Dewey (DDG 105) and USS Sterett (DDG 104) and Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain (CG 57) transit the Pacific Ocean in August 2018 while aircraft assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2 fly in formation overhead. US Navy photo.
In its last deployment cycle, “America’s Favorite Carrier” was particularly busy despite 2018 representing a 25-year low in aircraft carrier deployment activity.
Vinson deployed on Jan. 5, 2017, to the Western Pacific for a six-month deployment. During its sustainment phase – a time when the carrier strike group is back home but maintaining peak readiness levels in case it is called upon to deploy again as a surge force – Vinson conducted a shorter three-month WESTPAC floatfrom January to April 2018 that included a historic port visit to Vietnam, participated in the Rim of the Pacific 2018 exercise in Hawaii from June to August 2018, hosted F-35C test and certification activities in 2017 and in 2018, and more.