Nimitz home last weekend before going to Gulf - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Nimitz home last weekend before going to Gulf

SAN DIEGO – More than 6,000 sailors are spending their last weekend at home before the aircraft carrier Nimitz leaves its San Diego pier Monday on a course for the Persian Gulf.

Nimitz, a nuclear-powered carrier based at North Island Naval Air Station in Coronado, Calif., will replace the Norfolk, Va.-based Eisenhower and its carrier strike group and join the John C. Stennis carrier strike group in the Persian Gulf and Horn of Africa regions.

The pairing of the carriers is part of a beefed-up presence of U.S. and coalition naval forces “demonstrating the United States’ ability to build regional stability and bring long-term stability to the region,” Naval Air Forces officials said in a statement Friday.

The strike group will join the broader force in maritime security operations, including the boarding of suspicious vessels.

Navy Rear Adm. Terry Blake, who commands Carrier Strike Group 11, will lead the force that includes the Lemoore, Calif.-based Carrier Air Wing 11 and the San Diego-based Destroyer Squadron 23.

Also deploying Monday are the guided missile cruiser Princeton and guided missile destroyers Higgins, Chafee, John Paul Jones and Pinckney, along with two detachments of Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 49 and Detachment 15 of Explosive Ordnance Disposal Unit 11.

Nimitz’s air wing includes: Strike Fighter Squadrons 14, VFA-41 and VFA-81; Airborne Early Warning Squadron 117; Electronic Warfare Squadron 135; Carrier Logistics Support Squadron 30; and Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron 6.

The deployment will be Nimitz’s third to the Persian Gulf in four years.

In mid-2005, Nimitz and its strike group operated in the Persian Gulf and U.S. 5th Fleet area to support operations in Iraq and the region. In 2003, the carrier flew combat missions over Iraq that spring and summer and supported combat operations during an eight-month deployment.