How about this great piece of photo-realistic maritime art, depicting an event some 55 years ago today.
“Crew of Greenfish Shape-Up on Deck, December 16, 1970. As USS Halfbeak rests closest to the dock, the crew of USS Greenfish shape up on deck, in the lee and shadows of her black sail.”
Painting, Acrylic on Paper; by Dante H. Bertoni; 1971; Framed Dimensions 31H X 39W NHHC Accession #: 88-161-AQ
A 311-foot Balao-class fleet boat, USS Greenfish (SS-351), was completed too late for WWII– commissioned 21 December 1945.
Nonetheless, she had a chance to deep-six an enemy submarine, sinking U-234 off Cape Cod in 1947.
Former U-234 is torpedoed by USS Greenfish (SS-351), in a test, on 20 November 1947, 40 miles northeast of Cape Cod.
A GUPPY II conversion, Greenfish gave the Navy a solid 28 years of service before being transferred to Brazil as Amazonas (S-16) in 1973, only being decommissioned in 1992, one of the longest-lived WWII subs still in service.
U.S.S. Sub 351 Greenfish Oct. 29, 1964 Photograph by Walter E. Frost City of Vancouver Archives
If only we kept the OHP FFG-7 line active in the same way the Burke DDG-51s have been, we wouldn’t have this problem and could have saved the whole LCS waking nightmare. I mean, you could see a Flight IIA FFG-7 with a 32-cell VLS instead of the old “one-armed bandit” Mk 13 launcher, C-RAM instead of CIWS, and a 57mm gun along with pocket Aegis sensors, couldn’t you?
Stripped-down white hulled versions could have clocked in with the Coast Guard, saving a lot of heartburn there as well.
Alas, with the Perrys, we never knew what we had til they were gone.
The Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided missile frigate USS Aubrey Fitch (FFG 34) underway in 1982 during Bath trials DN-SC-85-04399
As everyone well knows, the Constellation class FFGs have been canceled after falling years behind schedule and millions over budget, with not much to show for it besides two building ships that will no doubt be tough to maintain by themselves over their lifecycle once they finally hit the fleet sometime in the 2030s.
Now, word comes that the current SECNAV wants a new frigate class to be “in the water” as soon as 2028, returning the type to the Navy List for the first time since USS Simpson (FFG-56) decommissioned in September 2015.
The only way to really do that is to restart a barely dormant program with a grey hull variant of the proven Ingalls-built Legend (Bertholf)-class National Security Cutter, being specifically mentioned by “sources.”
With decent sensors, TACAN, IFF, and Links 11 and 16, the NSCs have often been deployed with the frigate-poor Second Fleet in the Atlantic (roaming as far as the Black Sea) and to the West Pac under Seventh Fleet control since 2019, where their long legs (12,000nm, almost three times that of a Burke) and shallower draft (22 feet compared to a Burke’s 31+) come in handy.
Canadian Halifax-class frigate HMCS Ville de Québec (FFH 332) and U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stone (WMSL 758) steam in formation, on June 9, 2024, while underway in the Atlantic Ocean. Stone and Ville de Québec operated in the Atlantic Ocean in the U.S. 2nd Fleet area of operations in support of maritime stability and security in the region. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Ensign Alana Kickhoefer)
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf (WMSL 750) transits near the Singapore Straits, Feb. 29, 2024. The Bertholf is a 418-foot National Security Cutter currently deployed to the Indo-Pacific region under the tactical control of U.S. 7th Fleet. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer Steve Strohmaier)
Two F/A-18E Super Hornets, attached to the “Tomcatters” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 31, fly over the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81), and the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) James (WMSL 754), April 2, 2025. The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group is underway in the Atlantic Ocean, completing integrated naval warfighting training. Composite Training Unit Exercise (COMPTUEX) is the Joint Force’s most complex integrated training event and prepares naval task forces for sustained high-end Joint and combined combat. Integrated naval training provides America’s civilian leaders and commanders with highly capable forces that deter adversaries, underpin American security and economic prosperity, and reassure Allies and partners. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Maxwell Orlosky)
Legend-class cutter USCGC James (WSML 754), left, and Brazilian navy Niterói-class frigates União (F 45) and Independência (F 44) operate in formation with Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) as part of a bilateral exercise between the U.S. and the Brazilian navy in the Atlantic Ocean, May 18, 2024. Porter is deployed as part of Southern Seas 2024, which seeks to enhance capability, improve interoperability, and strengthen maritime partnerships with countries throughout the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility through joint, multinational, and interagency exchanges and cooperation. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class David C. Fines)
The NSCs are frigate-sized, at 4,700 tons and 418 feet oal (the old long hull FFG-7 Perrys were 4,200 tons and 453 feet oal) and are good for 28 knot bursts on a CODAG powerplant. Of course, they are not frigate armed, with just a 57mm Bofors and Block 1B CIWS, as well as some 25mm Mk 38s and .50 cals, but they have weight and space reserved for additional weapons and sensors as well as all the “soft kill” stuff you’d expect from a frigate such as SLQ-32, SRBOC, and Nukla.
The USCG has 10 NSCs with an 11th (the would-be USCGC Friedman) canceled in June, and Long Lead Time Materials funded as an option for a 12th hull– both of which the service could actually use, especially in Alaska. That kinda qualifies as having a “hot” line.
Ingalls has seriously shopped a few different National Security Cutter patrol frigate (FF) variants over the years, with the most aggressive of these being the FF4923.
This FF4923 would be 4,675 tons, have two STIIR 2.4 FC radars, a Captas VDS towed sonar, a KINGKLIP sonar, space for two, maybe four anti-ship missile box launchers, Mk 32 ASW torpedo tubes, a C-RAM rather than CIWS, and 16 MK41 VLS cells. However, it looks like those cells would be limited to tactical-length (no Tomahawk or SM-3) loads.
The model is shown with a 76mm gun, which I like (would prefer a 5 incher), but the NSC sports a 57mm Mk 110 (along the lines of the Connies and the LCSs, as well as the USCG’s 25~ planned Heritage/Argus-class Offshore Patrol Cutters), so let’s be honest, that is what a frigate-ized NSC in U.S. service would carry. This might allow a 32-cell VLS to be shoehorned into the design, which is the same as Connie. If not, the FF4923 would be limited to just 16 SAMs if using SM-2s (with a 90nm published range), or 64 shorter-ranged (27nm) but quad-packed ESSMs, less if ASROC is carried (e.g., maybe 4 SM-2s, 4 VLAs, and 32 ESSMs).
Sure, it is not perfect, but it is a better plan than not having a frigate at all, which is what we are doing now.
Plus, if the FF4923 was greenlit and other yards (Bath and Austal, for instance) got into the build-out, the prospect that the canceled 11th and 12th NSCs could get built is high– which could help the Coast Guard with its delayed Offshore Patrol Cutter program.
Speaking of the struggling OPCs, these 4,500-ton 360-foot OPVs are a bit slow (22 knots) to be thought of as a proper FF but do have a long (10,200nm) range, MH-60 helicopter and small boat facilities, as well as the same soft and hard kill batteries as the larger NSC (sans CIWS), or the LCS classes for that matter, with little weight and space reseved for anything heavier, so they are more of a dark horse candidate for a new frigate design.
“With a range of 10,200 nautical miles at 14 knots and a 60-day endurance period, each OPC will be capable of deploying independently or as part of task groups, serving as a mobile command and control platform for surge operations such as hurricane response, mass migration incidents, and other events. The cutters will also support Arctic objectives by helping regulate and protect emerging commerce and energy exploration in Alaska.”
But at least their line is hot, with the Coast Guard just authenticating the keel for the future USCGC Pickering (WMSM-919) during a ceremony Monday at Austal in Mobile.
Again, better than what the Navy has now, I guess.
Ship sponsor Dr. Meghan Pickering Seymour, fifth-generation granddaughter to Col. Timothy Pickering, and Ravi Khamsourin, Austal USA advanced welder, tig-welded her initials during a keel laying ceremony in Mobile, Alabama, Dec. 8, 2025. The Coast Guard Cutter Pickering (OPC 5) is named for the first USCGC Pickering that launched in 1798. (U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Grace McBryde)
How about this great shot taken a decade ago from a rarely viewed angle on a Nimitz-class super carrier? Note the Screwtop (VAW-123) E-2C, as well as an F-18C and F-18D two-seater,
151212-N-RX777-246: ATLANTIC OCEAN (Dec. 12, 2015) Electronics Technician 3rd Class Timothy Stodden and Electronics Technician 3rd Class Cody Ray conduct maintenance on an STS-46 radar aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69). Dwight D. Eisenhower and embarked Carrier Air Wing 3 are underway preparing for their upcoming deployment. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Cole Keller/Released
At the time, Ike had just wrapped up a 25-month Drydocking Selected Restricted Availability (DSRA) at Norfolk NSY and was working up with CVW-3 for a 5th Fleet Med deployment, her 21st.
Some 80 years ago today, 12 December 1945, a window into the future of naval maritime patrol and sea control debuted to the public just after it had been vetted in combat.
Official period captions: “The BAT radar pilotless aircraft under the wing of a Convair PB4Y-2 Privateer at the Philadelphia Ordnance District during development and testing. The Bat was a Mark 9 special weapons ordnance device.” Photographs released December 12, 1945.
BAT Air-to-Surface Guided Missile homes in on a target ship during tests. Photograph released 16 October 1946. National Archives photograph 80-G-703161. launched from PBM
What of the Bat, you ask? Well, some 2,500 of these primitive anti-shipping weapons were built, but very few actually dropped before the end of the war.
The Navy re-designated them the ASM-N-2 post-war and kept Bat in inventory until after Korea, when they were replaced by more efficient air-launched weapons (the ASM-N-7/AGM-12 Bullpup in the late 50s, AGM-45 Shrike in the 1960s, and AGM-65 Maverick in the 1970s before Harpoon came around), then used as AAA targets.
I know that, going back to the 688 class of the 1970s, hunter killers have been named after cities in the good old “fish don’t vote” adage of Big Nuke Navy Boss ADM Rickover, but I do miss those old classic fish names for subs.
One is set to return with the future Block V Virginia-class attack submarine USS Barb (SSN 804), which had her keel authenticated at Newport News on Dec. 9.
Fluckey was commanding officer of the storied Barb (SS 220) in World War II. Under Fluckey’s watch, USS Barb became one of the most highly decorated submarines in U.S. naval history, most known for sinking a record number of enemy ships and for a particularly daring mission that destroyed enemy shipping lines. Fluckey received the Medal of Honor for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty.” The ship earned four Presidential Unit Citations, a Navy Unit Commendation, and eight Battle Stars for service in World War II and was decommissioned in 1954.
The second Barb, (SSN 596), a Permit-class boat, was active in the Cold War, including two tours off Vietnam, and helped vet sub-launched TLAMs.
The future and third Barb will be the 31st Virginia-class submarine when commissioned, and the third Block V boat.
Of note, when the 688 series USS Helena (SSN-725) was decommissioned in July, the Virginias became the most numerous active submarine class in the world, with 24 active and two (Massachusetts and Idaho) complete pending commissioning in early 2026. They will no doubt hold that title for the next 20+ years, at least for SSNs.
A total of 67 are planned, including a trio of boats (two Block IV second-hand, one new construction Block VII) for Australia.
Pre-Mayberry, actor Andy Griffith, exempted from service at age 18 in 1944 due to a herniated disk, made a couple of military service comedies during the late 1950s: the better-received Korean War-set USAF-based No Time for Sergeants, and the lesser-known Onionhead.
In Onionhead, Griffith portrayed country simple Cook 3rd Class– now known as a Culinary Specialist Third Class (CS3)– Alvin Woods, who signs up for the Coast Guard during World War II and is assigned to the fictional buoy tender USCGC Periwinkle, cue laugh track and burned cinnamon roll hilarity.
Periwinkle somehow sinks an enemy U-boat, and Wood/Griffith ends up with the girl in the end.
Based on a novel by William R. Scott, a native Oklahoman who served in the USCG during “the Big Show,” the movie was filmed at Coast Guard Base Alameda and Yerba Buena Island circa 1958, with at least some footage of the USCGC Yamacraw (WARC-333) making it to the finished, albeit ill-received, movie.
Yamacraw was a very interesting ship.
Constructed during WWII at Point Pleasant, W. Va., by the Marietta Manufacturing Co as Hull 480, a 1,320 ton, 188-foot Coastal Artillery mine planter for the U.S. Army as USAMP Maj. Gen. Arthur Murray (MP-9), she was delivered to the Army on 1 October 1942.
USAMP Maj. Gen. Arthur Murray (MP-9). Records (#742), Special Collections Department, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, USA.
After serving on the East Coast during WWII, once the threat of Axis invasion passed, Randolph transferred to the Navy on 2 January 1945. She was then converted into an auxiliary minelayer by the Navy Yard, Charleston, S.C., and commissioned there on 15 March 1945 as USS Trapper,designated ACM-9, a Chimo-class auxiliary minelayer, Lt. Richard E. Lewis, USNR, in command.
Her armament included one 40mm Bofors mount and four 20mm mounts, and she was fitted with both listening gear and radar.
USS Trapper (ACM-9), ex-USAMP Maj. Gen. Arthur Murray (MP-9), off San Francisco, California, circa 1945.Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, Corte Madera, California, 1973. NH 77370
It was planned that she was to take part in the last push for the Japanese home islands in late 1945/early 1946, but that never materialized, and she only made it as far as Pearl Harbor by the time the Pacific War ended.
Trapper arrived at Kobe on 25 November 1945 and operated out of that port repairing minesweeping gear until 1 February 1946, when she shifted her base of operations to Wakayama for a month. She was then sent back stateside and arrived at San Francisco on 2 May, where she was decommissioned.
Transferred to the USCG on 20 June 1946 for use as a cable layer, USCGC Yamacraw (WARC-333), after a traditional cutter name, ex-Trapper/ex-Murray was struck from the Navy list on 19 July 1946.
She remained in USCG custody until early 1959.
This included filming of Onionhead and a 1957-1958 lease during the International Geophysical Year to Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution for acoustic studies of the North Atlantic and Mediterranean. In that task, the ship towed a cable that recorded ambient sound in the ocean, plus a thermistor chain for measuring temperature.
The Navy then re-acquired the old Army mine ship on 17 May 1959, painted her haze gray, kept the USCG name, and redesignated her as ARC-5, a cable repair ship.
The difference as told by two Jane’s entries:
USS Yamacraw (ARC-5), port quarter view of cable repair ship USS Yamacraw (ARC-5) anchored in an unidentified location. Previously served as minelayer USS Trapper (ACM-9) and Coast Guard Cutter Yamacraw (WARC-333).NHHC L45-314.01.01
As a Naval auxiliary, she operated from Portsmouth to Bermuda and spent much of her at-sea time conducting research projects for the Office of Naval Research and for the Bell Telephone Laboratories.
On 2 July 1965, Yamacraw was decommissioned by the Navy for a second and final time, transferred to the permanent custody of the Maritime Administration, and struck, again, from the Navy list.
On my recent trip through the Atlanta Airport to visit Glock and canoodle with the new Gen6s, I spied a display of hand-carved wooden scale models, all of WWII-era aircraft.
One caught my eye, that of a Grumman J2F-4 Duck amphibian in bright pre-war livery, complete with “meatball” roundels.
(Photos: Chris Eger)
Yup, it was I-J-7, the famous “Candy Clipper,” complete with candy cane markings on its cowlings.
The Clipper was part of Navy LT Jack Clayton Renard’s Utility Squadron of PATWING10, a group of 10 light single-engine seaplanes operating out of the area around Manila: four J2F-2/4 Ducks, five early OS2U-2 Kingfishers, and one SOC-1 Seagull.
The “Candy Clipper” moniker came from its Navy pilot’s side-quest of carrying candy to nurses on Corregidor to brighten the Christmas of 1941, along with shuttling medical supplies and food to the bunker.
By late January 1942, all of Renard’s light amphibians had been lost to the fighting or were otherwise written off, and the Navy personnel diverted to ground defense as the war for Manila was lost.
A USAAF 1st Lieutenant, Roland J. Barnick (O-2820), was tapped to take the battered old Clipper, which had its shot-through engine recently replaced with one from a sunken J2F, on the last flight out of Bataan before the Japanese surrender on 9 April 1942.
Built for a crew of two (three in a pinch), the Clipper was crammed with Barnick and five high-value passengers, including Army Major (later general and UN President) Carlos P. Romulo, who went on to write about the flight in his best-selling book, I Saw the Fall of the Philippines.
The abused Clipper, overloaded and running on a waterlogged salvaged engine, somehow made it from its hiding place at Cabcaben airfield to friendly lines in Mindanao, where it would remain as its passengers managed their way by assorted means to Java and Australia.
Barnick, a bomber man, would end the war leading B-29 Superforts over the Japanese Home Islands.
At a time when the USN’s big deck ‘phib force is perhaps at its smallest size in terms of number of hulls in the water since 1940, the Medium Landing Ship has officially been announced by the SECNAV.
As many as 35 are wanted by the Marines, although you can be sure that will likely be trimmed to 23-24 (the Marines have only two missile-slinging Marine Littoral Regiments stood up, rather than the three planned, the whole reason for the LSM to exist).
The winner is Damen’s Landing Ship Transport (LST) 100 design, with the “100” being its length in meters. A small ship, measuring 321 feet with a 1,400 dwt (4,000 tons full load) displacement, it is capable of 15 knots while carrying a 1,020 m² RoRo deck, featuring a helicopter pad and space for small boats. Crew size is just 18 men– which means 40 overseen by an O-5 in Big Navy parlance.
They can essentially land a vehicle-based company-sized force, which sets up the interesting scenario of, say, an LSM, LCS, and an older DDG, operating as a sort of “pocket MEU” for non-combat operations other than all-out war (evacs, humanitarian support, exercises, constabulary, etc) — freeing up regular MEUs for more muscular use.
“The U.S. Navy has selected the LST 100 design for the Medium Landing Ship (LSM) program, enabling rapid fielding of this urgently needed capability to our Navy and U.S. Marine Corps team. By leveraging a mature, non-developmental design and strategic engineering, we are shortening acquisition timelines and ensuring our forces have the littoral mobility they need when they need it.”
As Damen is a proven designer and its successive series of 110, 87, and 154-foot patrol boats, built by Bollinger in Louisiana, have been the background of the USCG since the 1980s, with more than 180 delivered. That puts Bollinger immediately in the hunt, and, as the LSM is a simple design, you can bet some commercial firms and also-runs will also try to get in on the build.
It is (almost) always more efficient and effective to buy an existing product off the shelf than to develop one to fit your exact needs. NAVSEA has found that out painfully with the LCS program and the Zumwalt-class Megadestroyers.
Even when buying an existing design, such as done ostensibly with the now-abandoned Constellation-class frigates, NAVSEA has learned that it cannot totally change every compartment of the design, add dozens of new ones, and start construction before this total redesign is even finished.
Off the shelf means little to no changes. Hopefully, NAVSEA has seen the light.
A return to LST normal?
USCG-manned USS LST 66 headed for a hot beach at Balikpapan. Commissioned on 12 April 1943, LST-66 was on her 12 series of landings after hitting the beach with Marines and soldiers at Cape Gloucester, Saidor, Hollandia, Toem-Wakde-Sarmi, Biak, Noemfoor, Cape Sansapor, Morotai, Leyte, Lingayen, and Mindanao, earning eight battle stars. NARA 26-G-4741
Going back to the days of the Overlord, Detachment, and Iceberg landings of 1944-45, the Navy relied on LSTs to get to the beach with an early generation of LSDs/APDs just offshore running small boats to and from troop-laden transports.
This formula continued well into the Carter era, even giving a nod to vertical envelopment as early as Operation Swift Winds in South Vietnam in 1965, using amphibious assault ships like the USS Iwo Jima (LPH-2) to rapidly insert Marines via helicopter. Meanwhile, starting in 1962 with the 14,000-ton USS Raleigh (LPD-1), assault transport docks began to appear, with the ability to carry both landing craft and helicopters.
In 1968, the Navy had 7 Iwo Jima-class 18,000-ton helicopter carriers built or on the schedule, 16 Raleigh and Cleveland class LPDs, 33 LSDs of the Anchorage, Cabildo, and Ashland class as well as the 27 Newport and Suffolk class LSTs plus 99 (!) older LST-1156 (Terribone Parish), LST-511 (Caddo Parish), and LST-1 (Blanco) series gators. This was also bolstered by 20 Attack Transports (APAs) and 23 Attack Cargo Ships (AKAs).
No matter how you slice it, that was well over 200 amphibious warfare ships.
The prospect of owning the beachhead was still very real at the time, with the Navy having lists of shallow draft DERs, DEs, PGs, and even 11 LSMRs– 1,100-ton landing ships that had been fitted to fire 240 5-inch rocket salvos at a time.
Then came the building of the big deck 40,000+ ton LHAs and LHDs, starting with USS Tarawa in 1976, and increasingly larger LPDs and LSDs, able to push the landing ships further over-the-horizon and out to sea– safely away from things like Silkworm missiles, fast attack craft hiding in the shallows, and 155mm howitzers on the beach.
Artist’s conception of a very preliminary design of the LHA, released by DoD, 15 February 1967. USN 1120262
This meant the end of the APAs and AKAs, as the bigger LHA/LHDs, LPDs, and LSDs could carry more men and cargo, and the outright termination of the LST, with still-useful Newport class vessels divested at the end of the Cold War (and quickly snapped up by Allied countries, with four of them still active in their 50s). Also gone were the “small boy” escorts that could get in close to the beach with 5-inch guns, as clearly they would not be needed.
By 2003, the Navy was down to just five LHAs, seven LHDs, 12 LSDs, and 12 LPDs (a 13th as a flagship), the mystical 36-ship package allowing 12 amphibious ready groups, each with a big deck LHA/LHD, an LPD, and an LSD, capable of toting around a reinforced Marine battalion with its integrated aviation and support elements (the MEU).
Current figures today are 9 LHD/LHAs, 10 LSDs, and 13 LPDs: 32 hulls, just one more than the Congress-mandated minimum of 31 ships. But that is subjective as the worn-out LSDs are retiring, and incoming LPD numbers are not sufficient to replace them on a hull-for-hull basis.
Worse, there is no, um, expendable, landing ship to put the Marine Littoral Regiment on the beach, which is the stated need for the LSM (we can’t call them full-fledged LSTs now, can we?).
We all know that the LSM will be pressed into other service outside of schlepping MLRs around the Chinese littoral, especially when viewed on their 20-30 year lifespan. Hopefully, it will not come at the expense of the big hull gators, or we will be right back to 1944-45 again, but at a time when the littoral has never been more dangerous, or when we have less control of it.
Via the USAMU, Fort Benning- December 2025- Attention all U.S. Army Soldiers! Registration is now open for the 2026 U.S. Army Small Arms Championships at Fort Benning, Georgia, March 8-14.
The US Army Small Arms Championship (All Army) is an advanced combat live-fire training event. Training and skill exercises apply to all military small arms firing disciplines.
This event is only open to Active Army, Army Reserves, U.S. Army or Air National Guard, Military Academy, College ROTC Cadets, and OCS Candidates. Civilians and military personnel from other services are prohibited from participating in any event.
All competitors must register as individuals for this event. Please ensure that you fill out all of the information on the registration form.
USAMU will not be providing weapons or equipment to competitors. This is the responsibility of the unit sending the Soldier to the event. The Match Program can be found in the upper-right corner. We have made changes to the match program. Please ensure that you download the match program.
Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) render honors as the ship passes the USS Arizona Memorial while arriving at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, 29 November 2025. The Nimitz made the scheduled port visit while operating in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations during an eight-month deployment as the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 11.
Credit: Navy Seaman Matthew C. Wolf. VIRIN: 251129-N-AW546-1141P
U.S. Navy sailors man the rails on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) while pulling into Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Nov. 29, 2025. Nimitz is underway in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations on a scheduled deployment, demonstrating the U.S. Navy’s unwavering commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jaron Wills)
The photo is appropriate as ADM Chester Nimitz, the supercarrier’s namesake, was dispatched to Pearl Harbor to assume command of the Pacific Fleet just nine days after Arizona went down, and would assume command of the seriously damaged and demoralized force in a ceremony aboard the submarine USS Grayling (SS-209) on 31 December 1941, as no battlewagons were availible since all eight dreadnoughts in the Harbor were sunk or severely damaged.
The carrier was christened on 13 May 1972 by Catherine Nimitz Lay, the daughter of the late admiral.
This is likely CVN-68’s final trip past Battleship Row, as she is scheduled to begin deactivation in early 2026, capping a 51-year career.
Her first port call at Pearl was back during RIMPAC 1988– as OPFOR against the USS Missouri Battleship Battle Group, no less– and she has been back at least 11 times since then.
And, of course, she will live on as Pearl Harbor’s strongest yet unsuccessful defender, ala 1980s The Final Countdown.
The Navy granted access to Nimtz during production of the movie, so when you see those stunning shots of the “Big 6-8 haze gray and underway,” it is not stock footage.
