Aircraft Carriers III
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
BREMERTON, Wash. — USS Nimitz departed Friday for military exercises in the Southern Command area, the Navy said Saturday. “Nimitz is deploying to the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility this spring as part of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command/U.S. 4th Fleet’s Southern Seas 2026 deployment,” Lt. Cmdr. Peter Pagano, spokesman for the carrier, said in an email from aboard the ship. It departed Bremerton, its longtime homeport, for the last time.
The Navy’s oldest carrier, commissioned in 1975, had been scheduled to depart its homeport at Naval Base Kitsap near Seattle to arrive in mid-April to begin decommissioning. It arrived at Kitsap in December from Asia and the Middle East at the end of what the Navy at the time said was its final deployment. Pagano said details of the new deployment are still under development. The Navy has not yet announced plans for South Seas 2026. The exercise last took place in April 2024 and included port calls in Peru, Chile and Brazil by the carrier USS George Washington.
Nimitz will still shift homeports from Kitsap to Naval Station Norfolk, Va. The Nimitz is too large to use the Panama Canal, so it must make the estimated 12,400-nautical-mile voyage from Bremerton, around Cape Horn at the tip of South America, then north to Norfolk. Pagano did not comment on how participation in the exercise might affect the timeline for decommissioning the Navy laid out last year. “Detailed planning is currently underway for Nimitz to visit several partner states on the ship’s circumnavigation of the continent of South America, en route to its new homeport,” Pagano said.
“Additional details on the upcoming Southern Seas 2026 deployment, such as participating and embarked units, will be released before it begins.” The departure of the Nimitz leaves one carrier, USS Ronald Reagan, at Kitsap. The USS Ronald Reagan is undergoing a 17-month overhaul scheduled to end later this year. The Navy has announced plans to homeport the future USS John F. Kennedy at Kitsap as early as 2029.
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Source - Stars and Stripes
“On March 12, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) experienced a fire that originated in the ship’s main laundry spaces,” reads a U.S. Central Command statement posted to social media website X. “The cause of the fire was not combat-related and is contained. There is no damage to the ship’s propulsion plant, and the aircraft carrier remains fully operational. Two sailors are currently receiving medical treatment for non-life-threatening injuries and are in stable condition. Additional information will be provided when available.”
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Google is your friend
;Key ECM and defensive systems on Nimitz-class carriers include:
- AN/SLQ-32(V) Electronic Warfare Suite: This system is used to detect, deceive, and jam enemy radar signals and incoming anti-ship missiles.
- AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures: A towed decoy system used to lure acoustic homing torpedoes away from the ship.
- SRBOC (Super Rapid Bloom Off-Board Chaff): The MK36 decoy launchers deploy infrared flares and chaff to disrupt the sensors of incoming missiles.
- SSDS (Ship Self-Defense System): An integrated system that manages the ship's sensors and weapons to provide automated defense against threats.
Key details on Arleigh Burke DDG ECM capabilities:
- : These systems provide active radar jamming and electronic support, with newer variants offering significantly upgraded capabilities.
- : The fleet is being upgraded to SEWIP Block 2 and Block 3 to enhance survivability against modern, sophisticated threats.
- : These destroyers also utilize the Nulka hovering rocket system to decoy incoming missiles.
- Evolution: While earlier ships (Flight I) had passive systems, many have been upgraded, and later flights (Flight II/IIA/III) were built with advanced active electronic countermeasures integrated from the start.
I was referring to the operation of radar, aircraft guidance devices, radio communication... How much can all this be reduced without endangering the ship and planesGoogle is your friend
Key ECM and defensive systems on Nimitz-class carriers include:
In addition ECM is the main mission of the EF-18G Growler.
- AN/SLQ-32(V) Electronic Warfare Suite: This system is used to detect, deceive, and jam enemy radar signals and incoming anti-ship missiles.
- AN/SLQ-25 Nixie Torpedo Countermeasures: A towed decoy system used to lure acoustic homing torpedoes away from the ship.
- SRBOC (Super Rapid Bloom Off-Board Chaff): The MK36 decoy launchers deploy infrared flares and chaff to disrupt the sensors of incoming missiles.
- SSDS (Ship Self-Defense System): An integrated system that manages the ship's sensors and weapons to provide automated defense against threats.
Key details on Arleigh Burke DDG ECM capabilities:
- : These systems provide active radar jamming and electronic support, with newer variants offering significantly upgraded capabilities.
- : The fleet is being upgraded to SEWIP Block 2 and Block 3 to enhance survivability against modern, sophisticated threats.
- : These destroyers also utilize the Nulka hovering rocket system to decoy incoming missiles.
- Evolution: While earlier ships (Flight I) had passive systems, many have been upgraded, and later flights (Flight II/IIA/III) were built with advanced active electronic countermeasures integrated from the start.
Many times when I served EMCON conditions were set. The levels of this is unknown to me. That info was classified and I'm sure it still is classified. However my grandson and my son were Operations specialist and a Sonar Tech. I will ask them and give a basic answer later.
My grandson that served on an carrier says that reduced EMCOM settings never endanger the ships, aircraft and crew. My son echoed the same.