USS Nimitz returns to Bremerton after 7-month deployment in Indo-Pacific
BREMERTON — Standing from the flight deck of the USS Nimitz, sailors wearing white could hear the families shouting with joy as the carrier arrived at the pier of Naval Base Kitsap around 8:30 p.m. on Sunday.
"Daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy," a little girl's voice burst out from the crowd as the ship docked at the pier. Some sailors on the ship smiled as they heard people cheered. They saw the families and colorful signs waved at them, saying "Welcome Home.”
After seven months of global deployment, the Bremerton-based carrier is back. Sailing over 65,000 nautical miles, the Nimitz first stopped in San Diego and dropped off Carrier Air Wing 17 at Naval Air Station North Island on Wednesday. The ship left the California coast on Friday morning.
A welcome arrival
Some friends and family members at the pier cheered as the carrier let out a long horn blast. A few yelled their sailor’s name up towards the deck until they spotted each other in the crowd.
Among the nearly 3,000 crew members, Cody Barton was one of the sailors who left the ship first. He was one seeing a newborn child for the first time after returning from deployment.
Barton's two-month-old son, Myles, wore zip-up leather cowboy boots with an American flag pattern, waiting at the pier with Barton's wife, Molly. Molly said she was excited for her husband to see how much their two children had grown up. She had been taking care of the kids by herself while Barton was deployed.
Following the parents of newborn babies were lucky winners of the first kiss. Sailor Joshua Steitzer strode towards the waiting crowd as his wife, Gina, ran to meet him. They had met on the Nimitz during Gina’s last deployment, they said. Steitzer's parents, from Green Bay, Wisconsin, also flew to Bremerton as a surprise.
Mavee Quijano waited dockside for her son, Alvin, wearing a shirt with her son grinning in his official Navy photo. When asked about her son’s seven-month absence, the mother could not speak for a few seconds. She put a hand on her chest.
“I’m so proud,” she said. “That’s my baby.”
Carrie Y. Campbell is a part of the FRG, or Family Readiness Group, which organized social events like the Nimitz’s return. “It really helps with all the homesickness,” Carrie said, referring to her involvement with the FRG. Carrie and her husband, Curtis, had had their first anniversary while he was deployed.
“It’s like Christmas Eve when you’re a kid, times ten or one hundred,” she said with tears in the corners of her eyes.
The Nimitz conducted a change of command before its return to the Kitsap peninsula. Capt. Douglas Graber relieved Capt. Craig Sicola as the ship's commanding officer in San Diego on June 29. Capt. Graber greeted the sailors as they walked off of the ship.
Sicola, who led the crew through the entire deployment, said the sailors consistently performed with resilience, the captain said in a statement.
"Each and every Nimitz Sailor should be proud of their accomplishments. Every day of the deployment, our Sailors were relentless in the safe execution of operations," Sicola said.
The Nimitz departed Bremerton in November. During the seven-month deployment, the ship conducted six port visits in Singapore, Guam, South Korea, Thailand, Japan, and Hawaii. The carrier operated with the joint force and several countries, including Japan, South Korea, Australia, Canada, France, Singapore, and the Philippines, in the Indo-Pacific region.
More: Chinese Navy conducts military drills after USS Nimitz begins operating in South China Sea
The 1975-commissioned USS Nimitz is the U.S.'s oldest active aircraft carrier. The Navy is scheduled to decommission the ship in 2026.
This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Aircraft carrier USS Nimitz returns to Bremerton home port
