The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) transits the Arabian Sea, June 27, 2026.
(U.S. Navy photo)
Federal law explicitly requires that the United States Navy maintain 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. Codified in Title 10 of the U.S. Code, the mandate ensures that the Pentagon has enough of the vessels in service to keep at least three or four deployed globally at any time, with the rest undergoing mandatory training and heavy maintenance.
As of this week, four of the U.S. Navy’s 10 Nimitz-class supercarriers are deployed, with a fifth dispatched to New York City as the International Naval Review 250.
Due to the complexity of the vessels, the remaining six aircraft carriers are currently in their home ports, undergoing routine maintenance or even more extensive repairs and upgrades.
Since 2020, the largest number of U.S. aircraft carriers deployed concurrently to deal with an international crisis was earlier this year, when the Nimitz-class flattops USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) and USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) briefly operated in the Middle East with the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78).
CVN-78, the lead vessel of the U.S. Navy’s newest class of supercarriers, returned to its homeport of Naval Station Norfolk, Va., in May, ending a historic deployment that lasted 326 days, the longest ever time at sea for any nuclear-powered flattop and the longest aircraft carrier deployment since the Vietnam War. During the 11-month deployment, the USS Gerald R. Ford operated in the U.S. 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th Fleets area of operations, spanning the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and the Red Sea. The U.S. Navy’s largest aircraft carrier also sailed more than 57,713 nautical miles and executed approximately 12,200 flight launches.
Both CVN-72 and CVN-77 remain deployed to the Middle East.
The USS Abraham Lincoln departed Naval Base San Diego on November 21, 2025, with little fanfare and, as of Friday, has been at sea for 224 days.
The USS George H.W. Bush sailed from Naval Station Norfolk on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, also with minimal elaboration. The 10th and final Nimitz-class aircraft carrier crossed the Atlantic and sailed around Africa to reach the Middle East, likely to avoid the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, another significant global chokepoint that connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden.
Two Carriers In The Pacific
From late January until late May, the United States had been unable to maintain even a single aircraft carrier in the Pacific. The West Coast-based CVN-72 was operating in the South China Sea in January when it was ordered to the Middle East, and the U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed supercarrier, the USS George Washington (CVN-73), began its 2026 annual routine patrol on May 23, 2026, when it departed from the U.S. Navy base in Yokosuka, Japan.
CVN-73 is currently deployed within the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations. Shortly after leaving port, the carrier strike group immediately began operations and exercises in the Philippine Sea. that included participation in last month’s multinational Valiant Shield 2026 exercises.
Philippine Coast Guard Task Force 93 poses for a picture on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71) during an official partnership tour at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Devin Kraemer)
Another San Diego-based flattop, the USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), also began its deployment on June 15, 2026.
For the first time this year, two U.S. Navy aircraft carriers are now operating in the Pacific Ocean, albeit some 4,500 miles apart. CVN-71 will likely remain in the waters near Hawaii throughout July as it will lead the 2026 Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC), the 30th iteration of what is now the world’s largest international maritime warfare exercise. More than a dozen nations are taking part in complex, realistic training that is aimed at enhancing interoperability and strengthening global security partnerships.
Last week, the U.S. aircraft carrier hosted an international helicopter warfighter exchange at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, to kick off the 2026 RIMPAC.
Oldest In Service Carrier Is In The Big Apple
The USS Nimitz (CVN-68), the U.S. Navy’s oldest aircraft carrier, is docked at the former Naval Station Stapleton in Staten Island and will be anchoring in the harbor as the centerpiece of the International Naval Review 250 through July 8th.
The flattop’s appearance in the Big Apple is part of the America 260 celebrations.
Following the event, CVN-68 will likely head to Naval Station Norfolk, where she is expected to remain until being decommissioned in March 2027.
Previous plans had called for the decommissioning to occur this past spring, but delays with the delivery of the second Gerald R. Ford-class flattop, the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79), required that the USS Nimitz remain officially in service.
CVN-68, which was commissioned 51 years ago this past May, completed its final overseas deployment last December and began a homeport shift from Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Wash., to Naval Station Norfolk in March. As the supercarrier is too large to transit the Panama Canal, USS Nimitz traveled around South America, using the journey as a goodwill/farewell tour, where the warship made multiple port visits and hosted dignitaries and officials – including presidents and heads of state – from several Latin American nations.
The Remaining Carriers Are Likely To Be Sidelined Throughout 2026
The United States Navy’s second-oldest aircraft carrier, the Norfolk-based USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), completed its sea trials in April and continues to prepare for its next deployment. Last month, a change of command ceremony was held aboard the supercarrier, as Rear Adm. P. Scott Miller relieved Rear Adm. Dusty Rhodes as the commander of Carrier Strike Group 2 (CSG-2) after serving in the role since May of last year. Rhodes oversaw the completion of CVN-69’s fiscal year 2025 Planned Incremental Availability.
The U.S. Navy hasn’t acknowledged when CVN-69 could next deploy, and as of this week, the flattop was pierside at Naval Station Norfolk. Typically, there will be several months of local training exercises and certifications that need to be completed before the warship is declared ready for a global tasking.
The same is likely true of the USS Carl Vinson (CVN-70), which conducted open-water operations and local training exercises in the Pacific in mid-June, following a seven-month maintenance and upgrade period. Based on standard naval training cycles, a full combat deployment for the San Diego-based carrier isn’t anticipated until late 2026 or early 2027.
However, last month, CVN-70 received the United States Navy’s Battle Effectiveness Award (Battle “E”) for the warship’s 2024-2025 deployment, the service confirmed.
The USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) is currently undergoing its massive Drydocking Planned Incremental Availability at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington. An official deployment date has not yet been announced, but CVN-76 is only expected to complete the DPIA in late 2026, which will then be followed by several months of sea trials and training.
Capt. Matthew Kiser, commanding officer of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), speaks at an all-hands call in the hangar bay aboard the ship in Newport News, Virginia, July 2, 2026.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Paige Brown)
The final two U.S. Navy nuclear-powered supercarriers – the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) and USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) – will be also sidelined for the remainder of 2026. CVN-74 is at the Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding facilities in Newport News, Va., completing the multi-year Refueling and Complex Overhaul. By the time the RCOH is concluded, the process will have taken nearly five and a half years, which is longer than initially planned, but shorter than the time that CVN-73 underwent the same procedure, with it lasting nearly six years.
The RCOH is a necessary process for all of the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, and is conducted at the midway point of their respective 50-year planned lifecycle to refuel each vessel’s nuclear reactors. The process is next being conducted on the USS Harry S. Truman.
Beginning with CVN-75, the U.S. Navy will have fewer sailors take part in the process, instead relying on industry contractors to handle more of the work. Those sailors who are assigned to the maintenance of the warship will have access to the newly completed Carrier Refueling Overhaul Workcenter, a nearly 80,000 square feet of dedicated space near the warships that are undergoing an RCOH. The workcenter includes office space, a fitness center, recreational areas, a counseling officer, and other facilities sailors can use while their ship is undergoing maintenance.
Next Carriers Delayed
Complicating matters for the United States Navy is that the next two Gerald R. Ford-class flattops, the aforementioned future USS John F. Kennedy and the future USS Enterprise (CVN-80), are now running late. The delivery schedule slipped due to supply chain bottlenecks, labor shortages, and a series of construction constraints at Newport News Shipbuilding, the sole nuclear shipyard that builds the nuclear-powered warships.
The good news is that neither CVN-79 nor CVN-80 – along with CVN-78 – will require undergoing the RCOH, as the Gerald R. Ford-class carriers are powered by more modern A1B nuclear reactors designed to last each ship’s entire 50-year lifespan. The U.S. Navy will save billions of dollars, but it will also avoid having the ships sidelined for years to undergo the process.
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