Lenox takes command of USS Nimitz on Jan. 12

BREMERTON — Capt. Kevin P. Lenox will take command of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) from Capt. John C. Ring during a change of command ceremony at 10 a.m. on Thursday, Jan. 12.

The ceremony will take place aboard the Nimitz, which is in port at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton.

Vice Adm. Mike Shoemaker, Naval Air Forces commander, will be the guest speaker.

Outgoing captain Ring assumed command of Nimitz in July 2014. He led the ship and its crew in the initial at-sea development testing of the F-35C Lightning II carrier variant Joint Strike Fighter. Under Ring’s leadership, the ship then underwent 21 months of extended repairs and upgrades at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. After completing yard work in October 2016, the Nimitz completed its sea trials, flight deck certification, an at-sea weapons on-load and various other carrier qualifications 126 days ahead of the average schedule. Ring then began preparing the ship for its board of inspection and survey in February.

One of Lenox’s first duties will be seeing the ship through the survey. After the survey is completed, the new captain will be responsible for training exercises that will integrate and qualify Nimitz, Carrier Strike Group 11, Carrier Air Wing 11 and Destroyer Squadron 9 for deployment later in 2017.

Lenox earned his naval aviator wings in 1990. His previous tours of sea duty included two deployments with Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 8, one deployment with Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 4 in support of operation Iraqi Freedom, and a deployment to the Arabian Gulf with HS-7 as its commanding officer.

He entered the nuclear power training program in 2009 and served as executive officer of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) in 2010. Lenox then went on to command USS Denver (LPD 9), an amphibious transport dock, from 2012 to 2013.