Tag Archives: AVT-16

The Grand old Dame of the Fleet isn’t Ready to Clock Out Just Yet

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Twenty-six ships from 13 partner and allied nations steam in formation with Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) during a multinational maritime exercise as part of Fleet Exercise (FLEETEX) 250 in the Atlantic Ocean, June 25, 2026. 

We covered the “final” cruise of the class-leading, bar-setting USS Nimitz earlier this year, and the prospect that the 51-year-old flattop, the oldest CVN in the world since 2017, could linger as a training carrier for a while.

AVTN-68, if you will.

With the carrier not scheduled for decommissioning until March 2027, when the recently delivered PCU USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79) would clock in, Nimitz could be very busy for the next five months or more.

Per Navy PAO:

During its first underway period since completing a homeport shift to Norfolk, Va. in July, Nimitz-Class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) conducted its Precision Approach Landing Systems (PALS) certification, Oct. 5-8.

PALS, supported by the ship’s combat systems department and Carrier Air Traffic Controller Center (CATCC), aids pilots as they execute night or bad weather landings, guiding pilots to a good starting position for approaches; and is a requirement for ships to conduct flight operations.

In addition to the certification of Nimitz’ PALS equipment, Sailors used the underway as an opportunity to conduct training in preparation for future at sea operations, including aircraft recovery, damage control, propulsion and other drills.

This certification and training readies Nimitz for future underway periods such as those in support of east coast carrier qualifications (CQ). CQ’s are an important milestone in the training of student naval aviators, serving as their first opportunity to land on the flight deck of an operational aircraft carrier.

Nimitz is scheduled to conduct multiple upcoming CQ’s in support of Commander, Naval Air Force Atlantic.

Nimitz is currently homeported in Naval Station Norfolk as part of Carrier Strike Group 8.

They could always just let the old girl roam the Virginia Capes forever. An electron-powered Flying Dutchman. Steaming lazy broad figure eights for CQs until the end of time. Manned by the ghosts of CVWs past.

With that, see these Platoon Daddy graphics for reference.

Could Nimitz Become AVTN-68?

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Everyone’s favorite Disco vintage super carrier and almost-Kidō Butai vanquisher just transited to her new home at Norfolk after being the center of the Sail4th naval parade/International Naval Review 250/FLEETEX 250 in New York.

Note: she still has an MQ-25 Stingray CBARS demonstrator on her deck.

She pulled “back” into her new home at Norfolk yesterday, passing her docked sisters USS Eisenhower (CVN 69) and Truman (CVN 75). It is appropriate, as Norfolk was her original home from 1975 to 1987 before her West Coast days at Bremerton/Everett (1987-2001, 2012-2026) and San Diego (2001-2012).

USS Nimitz (CVN 68) arrives at Naval Station Norfolk (NSN), Virginia, July 9, 2026. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Frankie M. Guage)

The 51-year-old carrier departed Navy Base Kitsap (Bremerton) on 7 March and has spent the past four months in a series of goodwill port calls and exercises throughout the Americas for Operation South Seas, a fitting send-off for what is likely her final cruise under her own power.

But not so fast.

Captain Joseph Furco, Nimitz’s commanding officer, recently told a press conference that the old girl may have some life left in her, specifically as a training carrier.

But not just for Carrier Quals, but actually taking out crews of flattops that are long sidelined in construction or refit, to give them some underway time. Remind them what it is to be a CVN on the ocean.

“All of those [Kennedy] sailors have not had the opportunity to go to sea,” Capt Furco noted. “I can take this ship to sea with 1,000 sailors from Kennedy, or [carrier USS John] Stennis [(CVN 74)] or [carrier USS Harry S] Truman [(CVN 75)] with their extensive [scheduled maintenance] yard periods and give sailors a taste of what their job is like outside the academic setting.”

Those sailors would normally discuss their roles, such as controlling aircraft on a flight deck, in simulations, but with Nimitz the Navy “could get them out here controlling aircraft. You can get them down on the reactor and turn the dials and run the steam through the pipes”. Nimitz could help certify crews, platforms, and pilots, he said.

Designed in the 1960s and commissioned in 1975, Nimitz is slated to be inactivated in FY 2027, beginning the process of dismantling the ship, according to the Navy Shipbuilding Plan released in May.

Her fuel rod matrix, revitalized in her 37-month (1998-2001) Refueling and Complex Overhaul (RCOH), is on its last legs, and her AW4 reactors were only designed to be refueled once. A 142-page RAND report on the subject says the fuel is exhausted after 23 years, and it’s been 25 since CVN-68 completed her RCOH.

Still, Furco would be the person most qualified on the planet to know if his reactors are only filled with radioactive memories or there are still a couple of electrons in there with a “I didn’t hear no bell” attitude about them, so if he thinks 68 can still clock in for training missions, he is probably correct.

With that in mind, and acknowledging she can’t undertake another serious deployment into harm’s way, perhaps it is time to re-rate her as an AVT, akin to USS Forrestal’s 1992-93 retirement stint as AVT-59 and Lexington’s 1978-1991 run as AVT-16.

A Training Squadron 9 (VT-9) T-2C Buckeye aircraft takes to the air after performing a touch-and-go landing on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal October 10, 1991. PH1 Scott M. Allen 330-CFD-DN-ST-92-02118

T-2C Buckeye aboard USS Lexington (AVT-16) April 1989. U.S. Navy photograph 330-CFD-DN-ST-89-08969. Photographer Jim Bryant. Via NARA. National Archives Identifier: 6445247

Plus, such a move would allow a dedicated platform for T-45 Carrier Qualifications (CQ) for the next year or two, provided Nimitz could keep it up, freeing other CVNs from having to perform the task.

Her sister, Eisenhower, which just came out of overhaul, recently conducted 428 traps and 143 touch-and-go landings, qualifying 24 aviators over three days underway.

A U.S. Navy T-45C Goshawk jet trainer aircraft takes off from the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), June 27, 2026. Eisenhower is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting carrier qualifications for student naval aviators assigned to Naval Air Training Command.(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Miguel Santiago)

U.S. Navy Lt. Miguel Smith launches a T-45C Goshawk jet trainer aircraft off of the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69), June 27, 2026. Eisenhower is underway in the Atlantic Ocean conducting carrier qualifications for student naval aviators assigned to Naval Air Training Command. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Miguel Santiago)

Further, it could help wring out the T-45’s remaining underway CQ potential, as the type is set to retire in the 2030-2035 time frame.

The two remaining contenders to replace the T-45, the SNC Freedom Jet and a Leonardo-Textron-Beechcraft M-346N, will not be carrier-capable, as the Navy’s new Undergraduate Jet Training System will eschew the traditional cats-and-traps evolutions for simulator work, because what can go wrong?

The SNC Freedom Jet and a Leonardo-Textron-Beechcraft M-346N. While the SNC trainer is a clean-sheet design, the M-346N is a navalized, American-built variant of the Italian Leonardo M-346 Master/Yak-130.