The US Navy aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) is underway conducting composite training unit exercise (COMPTUEX). COMPTUEX is an intensive exercise designed to fully integrate units of the carrier strike group, while testing a strike group's ability as a whole to carry out sustained combat operations from the sea.
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Aircraft from Nimitz Carrier Strike Group fly in formation over the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) while an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter from the Battle Cats of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 73. (Picture source U.S. Navy)
The U.S. Navy USS Nimitz CVN 68 is considered as one of the largest warships in the world, she was laid down, launched and commissioned as CVAN 68 but was later re-designated CVN 68 (nuclear-powered multi-mission aircraft carrier) on June 30, 1975, as part of the fleet realignment. Nimitz was homeported at Naval Station Norfolk until 1987 when she was relocated to Naval Station Bremerton in Washington State (now part of Naval Base Kitsap).
After her commissioning, May 3, 1975, Nimitz’s first deployment began July 7, 1976, when she departed Norfolk for the Mediterranean. Nimitz again sailed toward the Mediterranean Sea on December 1, 1977. Sept. 10, 1979, she was dispatched to the Indian Ocean as tensions heightened after Iran took 52 U.S. hostages. Four months later, Operation Evening Light was launched from Nimitz in an attempt to rescue the hostages. The rescue was aborted in the Iranian desert when the number of operational helicopters fell below the minimum needed to complete the rescue.
The US Navy USS Nimitz CVN 68 is part of the Carrier Strike Group Eleven with Carrier Air Wing Seventeen (CVW-17) embarked, with Nimitz as the flagship of the strike group and the home of the commander of Destroyer Squadron 23.
The NIMITZ-class carriers are a floating airport, capable of launching as many as four aircraft a minute. The ship's four catapults and four arresting gear engines enable her to launch and recover aircraft rapidly and simultaneously. The ships carry seven different types of aircraft with a total complement of more than 90 fixed wing and helicopters including F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter aircraft, F/A-18C Hornets, Boeing EA-18G Growlers electronic warfare aircraft, Northrop Grumman E-2C Hawkeyes carrier-capable tactical airborne early warning (AEW) aircraft, Sikorsky MH-60S Seahawks naval helicopter, MH-60R Seahawks naval helicopter and Grumman C-2 Greyhound cargo aircraft.
The U.S. Navy USS Nimitz CVN 68 has a crew of up to 5,000 sailors. It has a displacement of 100,020 tons and is powered thanks to two Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors, 4 steam turbines and 4 shafts. It can reach a maximum speed of 31.5 knots (58.3 km/hr). The armament of the USS Nimitz includes two Sea Sparrow, two RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile, two PHALANX CIWS (Close-In Weapons System) Gatling guns, four MK 38 25mm automatic cannon turrets and ten .50 caliber machine gun turret emplacements.
