As of May 21st, the US Navy has 7 out of its 11 aircraft carriers underway for training and operations.
On the day, the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt was the most recent one to depart, and it did so from Guam.
It arrived there on March 27th, amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
The warship left Naval Base Guam and entered the Philippine Sea to conduct carrier qualification flights for the embarked Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 11.
The other six Navy aircraft carriers that are underway are five Nimitz-class carriers – USS Nimitz, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, USS Abraham Lincoln, USS Harry S. Truman and USS Ronald Reagan – and the first Gerald R. Ford-class carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford.
According to the U.S. Navy, the current locations of other six currently underway U.S. Navy aircraft carriers are the following:
- USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is in the Arabian Sea;
- USS Nimitz and USS Abraham Lincoln are in the East Pacific;
- USS Ronald Reagan is in the West Pacific;
- USS Harry S. Truman and USS Gerald R. Ford are in the Atlantic.
USS Nimitz departed Naval Base Kitsap, Bremerton in Washington state on April 27th for training and deployment after completing her Carrier Incremental Availability at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility.
Prior to department, all crew were tested for COVID-19, after remaining in 27-day quarantine.
USS Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Carrier Strike Group (CSG) conducted a bilateral interoperability exercise with the French Navy in the area in April
USS Abraham Lincoln departed Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, California on May 7th for operations in the eastern Pacific. According to the Navy, Abraham Lincoln will be conducting routine operations in the U.S. 3rd Fleet area of operations.
USS Harry S. Truman is in the Atlantic Ocean off the U.S. coast. The warship was ordered to remain at sea in the Western Atlantic, following its successful deployment to the U.S. 5th Fleet and 6th Fleet areas of operation.
The purpose is to protect the crew from exposing themselves to the COVID-19 pandemic.
USS Ronald Reagan departed Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan for sea trials after the completion of its selected restricted availability (SRA) by the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility.
Finally, the USS Gerald R. Ford departed Norfolk to commence its second round of carrier qualifications for Fleet Replacement Squadron pilots.
The first round was carried out in late April 2020, the Gerald R. Ford is the first of its class aircraft carrier and is the first new aircraft carrier for the US Navy designed in more than 40 years.
