U.S. Navy may deploy USS Nimitz carrier in Southern Seas 2026 exercise during decommissioning voyage.

The US Navy confirmed that, even if the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz departed Bremerton on March 7, 2026, for a final operational voyage before decommissioning, it may participate in Southern Seas 2026 naval activities across Latin America and the Caribbean.

The U.S. Navy confirmed that the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz could participate in Southern Seas 2026 during its final operational voyage to Norfolk for decommissioning. After leaving Bremerton on March 7, 2026, the carrier is expected to sail around South America in the US Southern Command area before reaching Norfolk to begin the decommissioning process.
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U.S. law requires the Navy to maintain not less than 11 operational aircraft carriers, meaning an early retirement of the USS Nimitz would require congressional acceptance, which was refused in 2009 when USS Enterprise was being retired before USS Gerald R. Ford entered service. (Picture source: US Navy)

On March 8, 2026, the United States Navy confirmed to Stars and Stripes that the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) could participate in the Southern Seas 2026 activities conducted in the U.S. Southern Command area before the ship proceeds to Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, to start the decommissioning sequence. The Nimitz had departed Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington, on March 7, 2026, beginning a final operational voyage that marked the last time the carrier left Bremerton after spending most of its five decades of service in the Pacific Northwest. Only three months earlier, on December 16, 2025, the vessel had returned from a nine-month deployment covering Asia and the Middle East that included operations with the U.S. 3rd, 5th, and 7th Fleets.

That mission generated more than 8,500 aircraft sorties, 17,000 flight hours, 50 replenishments at sea, and more than 82,000 nautical miles sailed by the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group. Because the Nimitz is too large to transit the Panama Canal, the transfer to Norfolk requires a route around the southern tip of South America, producing an estimated transit distance of 12,400 nautical miles that may take two to three weeks if conducted without operational interruptions. The South Seas 2026 exercise (often written “Southern Seas 2026”), which could see the participation of the USS Nimitz, is organized under U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command and U.S. 4th Fleet and takes place across the maritime regions of Latin America and the Caribbean.

The deployment format combines naval exercises, operational exchanges, port visits, and maritime security cooperation with regional navies while a major U.S. warship sails along both coasts of South America. Typical activities include bilateral or multilateral maneuver drills, communications exercises, maritime security training, and disaster response coordination. The route generally covers the Caribbean Sea, the Pacific coast of South America, the southern Atlantic approaches near Cape Horn or the Strait of Magellan, and the Atlantic coast of the continent. Earlier iterations included naval forces from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Uruguay, but these deployments differ from recurring large-scale exercises because the mission is conducted as a multi-month regional cruise rather than a fixed event with a single training location. 

The USS Nimitz is the lead ship of the Nimitz-class and entered service during the mid-1970s, establishing a design that shaped the structure of U.S. carrier aviation for decades. The carrier displaces about 100,020 long tons at full load and measures 332.8 meters in length. Propulsion is provided by two Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors generating about 260,000 shaft horsepower through four turbines and four shafts, allowing sustained speeds exceeding 31 knots and endurance measured in decades between refueling cycles. The ship can embark up to 90 aircraft depending on operational requirements and carries defensive systems including Sea Sparrow missiles, RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile launchers, two Phalanx close-in weapon systems, Mk 38 25 mm autocannons, and .50-caliber machine gun stations.

Radar and sensor equipment includes SPS-48E and SPS-49 air search radars, SPQ-9B fire control radar, and SPN-46 landing guidance systems used to support carrier flight operations. Crew complement is about 5,900 personnel, including the ship’s company and the embarked air wing. The Nimitz’s operational history spans more than five decades and includes deployments across the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean, Middle East, and Mediterranean theaters. The carrier participated in the response to the Iran hostage crisis between 1979 and 1980, supported Operation Desert Storm in 1991, and later contributed to combat operations linked to Afghanistan and Iraq after 2001. Carrier Strike Group 11, built around the Nimitz, has historically included the guided-missile cruisers USS Lake Erie (CG-70) and USS Princeton (CG-59) and destroyers from Destroyer Squadron 9.

The air component, Carrier Air Wing 17, operates F/A-18E/F Super Hornet strike fighters, EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne early warning aircraft, MH-60R and MH-60S helicopters for anti-submarine and logistics tasks, and C-2 Greyhound aircraft for carrier onboard delivery. This composition allows simultaneous air defense, strike operations, reconnaissance, maritime security patrols, and anti-submarine warfare missions. Since the redesignation of the strike group in 2004, the formation has conducted numerous deployments across the Pacific, Indian Ocean, and Middle Eastern theaters. In its final operational cycle, during October 2025, the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group operated in the South China Sea northeast of Malaysia’s Great Natuna Island in waters where Chinese naval patrols and overlapping territorial claims are common.

The deployment followed earlier operations in the Middle East before the strike group moved back into the Pacific theater. The ship had departed for that deployment on March 21, 2025, and the nine-month mission ended with its return to Bremerton in December. During the period at sea, the carrier group conducted flight operations, maritime security patrols, and strike missions, including operations targeting ISIS positions in Somalia in support of U.S. Africa Command. The group’s movements through the Singapore and Malacca Straits into the Indian Ocean occurred during a period of increasing tensions between Israel and Iran, reflecting the flexibility of carrier deployments across different US theaters during a single operational cycle. The departure of USS Nimitz from Bremerton changes the distribution of aircraft carriers along the U.S. West Coast.

Naval Base Kitsap now hosts only one aircraft carrier, the Nimitz-class USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76), which entered a 17-month overhaul at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in August 2025 and is scheduled to complete maintenance later in 2026. The next carrier expected to use the installation as a homeport is the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), the second Gerald R. Ford-class aircraft carrier currently under construction. Builder’s sea trials for the ship began on January 28, 2026, after departing Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Newport News Shipbuilding facility. Construction began in July 2015, the ship was launched on October 29, 2019, and christened on December 7, 2019, before entering a long outfitting phase.

Delivery to the U.S. Navy is scheduled for March 2027, and the ship could arrive at Bremerton around 2029. The transfer of Nimitz to Norfolk, therefore, marks a temporary but significant reduction in the number of carriers operating from the Pacific Northwest. The deactivation of the USS Nimitz is planned to begin in 2026 with the Ship Terminal Off-load Program, during which equipment and reusable components are removed before the ship undergoes nuclear defueling and dismantling. The entire dismantling sequence could extend over a decade and cost up to $1 billion. Once removed from service, the U.S. carrier fleet would temporarily fall from 11 to 10 operational carriers until USS John F. Kennedy enters service in 2027.

This temporary reduction is commonly described as the “Nimitz gap,” reflecting the interval between the retirement of the oldest carrier and the arrival of its replacement. Carrier availability is further affected by long maintenance periods, refueling overhauls, and extended deployments, meaning only a portion of the fleet is typically available for operations at any given moment. The timing of the Nimitz retirement, therefore, intersects with a broader transition from the Nimitz class to the Ford class, which is also described as a potential carrier gap. The global strategic environment in early 2026 illustrates why aircraft carriers continue to play a central role in U.S. naval operations, and why the decommissioning of just one can have such a strategic impact.

On March 7, 2026, the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) entered the Red Sea after transiting the Suez Canal two days earlier as part of operations linked to Operation Epic Fury. Aircraft launched from the carrier include F/A-18E/F Super Hornets conducting strike missions, EA-18G Growlers providing electronic warfare, and E-2D Advanced Hawkeyes performing airborne early warning and battle management tasks. At the same time, the Nimitz-class carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has been operating in the Arabian Sea, conducting sustained flight operations. The potential deployment of USS George H.W. Bush could place three U.S. carrier strike groups within operational reach of Iran across the Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, and waters approaching the Persian Gulf.

Written by Jérôme Brahy

Jérôme Brahy is a defense analyst and documentalist at Army Recognition. He specializes in naval modernization, aviation, drones, armored vehicles, and artillery, with a focus on strategic developments in the United States, China, Ukraine, Russia, Türkiye, and Belgium. His analyses go beyond the facts, providing context, identifying key actors, and explaining why defense news matters on a global scale.