USS Nimitz leaves Bremerton port with 3,000 aboard

By Bob Smith • June 2, 2017 1:30 am
Sailors man the rails aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton on June 1. The Nimitz is preparing to get underway to Naval Air Station North Island, where they will join other Navy squadrons on a regularly scheduled six-month deployment. Photo: U.S. Navy photo - Mass Communications Specialist Seaman Ian Kinkead
Sailors man the rails aboard the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton on June 1. The Nimitz is preparing to get underway to Naval Air Station North Island, where they will join other Navy squadrons on a regularly scheduled six-month deployment. Photo: U.S. Navy photo - Mass Communications Specialist Seaman Ian Kinkead

NAVAL BASE KITSAP – BREMERTON — The U.S. Navy’s stalwart aircraft carrier, the USS Nimitz, deployed Thursday morning with a crew that amounts to the size of a small town — about 3,000 sailors.

According to a Navy news release sent as the Nimitz left port in Bremerton, the deployment is routine and “not in response to any specific incident or regional event.”

It’s the first deployment for the Nimitz since 2013, which has been undergoing extensive maintenance in port over the past four years. The Navy’s oldest destroyer glided through the waters of Sinclair Inlet on its way to connect with two other destroyers based in Everett: the USS Kidd and USS Shoup. The three destroyers are headed to base in San Diego, where they then will head to global hotspots in Asia and perhaps the Middle East.

The Nimitz is serving as the flagship of the squadron.

USS Nimitz leaves Bremerton port with 3,000 aboard
USS Nimitz leaves Bremerton port with 3,000 aboard