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The USS Nimitz (CVN-68), Over 50 Years in Service
Beginning and End
The USS Nimitz was launched on May 13, 1972. Catherine Nimitz Lay, Admiral Chester William Nimitz’s daughter, christened the ship. It was commissioned on May 3, 1975. It is scheduled to remain in active service until March 2027.
The 20th Century
The first Nimitz cruise was uneventful. Commander Naval Air Forces U.S. Atlantic Fleet awarded Nimitz the Battle “E” for being the most efficient and foremost aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Fleet in November 1976. Nimitz was the star of “The Final Countdown”, a 1980 movie with the premise a vortex takes the Nimitz back to December 6, 1941. The cast included Kirk Douglas, Martin Sheen, Katherine Ross, and James Farentino, but USS Nimitz was the real star.
When Iran took 52 Americans in the US Embassy in Iran hostage the Nimitz sailed into the Indian Ocean. On April 24, 1980 eight USMC RH-53Ds took off from the Nimitz as part of the Iran Hostage Rescue Mission. The mission ended in disaster with eight US Marine and Air Force personnel killed and four wounded when an RH-53D crashed into a parked USAF C-130.[i] The two remaining C-130s…
