The Navy will again play musical homeports for three aircraft carriers in 2019, just four years after the last shift.
This year will also see two guided-missile destroyers moving to San Diego and an amphibious assault ship returning to Norfolk.
When Navy officials announced the flattop transfers on Aug. 2, they didn’t put dates to the moves. But Navy Personnel Command’s Homeport and Decommissioning page is now filling in the details.
The aircraft carrier Carl Vinson’s shift from San Diego to Bremerton, Washington, will occur Jan. 17. The Vinson is expected to enter a maintenance period at Bremerton Naval Shipyard. After the overhaul, the flattop will stay in Washington, replacing the carrier John C. Stennis.
RELATED
The fifth in the Nimitz class of supercarriers, the Stennis is slated to undergo a midlife overhaul so that it can reach a quarter-century of expected operating service. The effective date of the Stennis' transfer to Norfolk is listed as May 18.
Sister carrier Abraham Lincoln is expected to travel across the globe on a tour that likely will begin in April and end around Halloween at Naval Air Station North Island, which will become the flattop’s new homeport.
The moves aren’t a first for the Navy.
In 2015, the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan moved to Japan to relieve the George Washington, which sailed to Virginia to begin a midlife overhaul at Newport News Shipbuilding.
The carrier Theodore Roosevelt also traveled on a global tour from Norfolk to its present homeport on North Island, arriving in late 2015.
The upcoming moves also involve two destroyers and the amphibious warship Wasp.
Wasp is expected to return to Norfolk around Sept. 20 after a short stint in Japan.
Forward-deployed to Japan, the guided-missile destroyer Stethem will sail to San Diego, with an effective move date of May 24.
Meanwhile, another Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the Shoup, will shift from Everett, Washington, to San Diego, but its effective move date should be soon. It’s listed for the second quarter of fiscal year 2019.
The busy Shoup recently wrapped up a joint Oceania Maritime Security Initiative patrol with the U.S. Coast Guard in the South Pacific.
Over a nearly two-span, the Shoup traveled more than 100,000 miles and visited Anchorage, Alaska; San Diego; Oahu, Hawaii; Chennai, India; Bahrain; Oman; Guam; and Vancouver, Canada, according to the Navy.
Mark D. Faram is a former reporter for Navy Times. He was a senior writer covering personnel, cultural and historical issues. A nine-year active duty Navy veteran, Faram served from 1978 to 1987 as a Navy Diver and photographer.
