Politics & Government

USS Ronald Reagan to Depart Friday

Carrier will head north for a year of maintenance work.

 

The San Diego-based aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan will head out to sea Friday for Bremerton, Wash., where it will undergo about a year of maintenance at Naval Base Kitsap, the Navy said Tuesday.

The crew of 1,092-foot Nimitz class, nuclear-powered carrier is scheduled to leave Naval Air Station North Island, where it has been homeported since 2004.

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“Maintaining the ship's material condition is an important part of ensuring that Ronald Reagan reaches its 50-year life cycle,” said Capt. Thom Burke, the commanding officer. “The next year will help us remain a fully-capable war fighting vessel.”

The USS Ronald Reagan, nicknamed “Gipper,” has been actively deployed five times in the past six years.

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The floating airstrip, with a crew of about 3,200, , after more than seven months at sea in which it was the first American aid ship to arrive in Japanese waters after the magnitude-9.0 off the coast of Tohoku.

The Reagan, along with Carrier Air Wing 14, delivered some 350,000 pounds of supplies to the Japanese people.

“We have a strong connection with the San Diego community and the state of California in general, but this ship has been worked very hard over the last several years, and we need to go up north for a good overhaul,” Burke said.

Work on the Reagan is set to start Jan. 10 in the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

 

– City News Service


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