USS Nimitz visits Oahu as 6-month Pacific deployment ends

Jun. 23—The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz sailed into Pearl Harbor on Monday evening as the sun came down—its crew winding down a six-month Pacific deployment.

The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz sailed into Pearl Harbor on Monday evening as the sun came down—its crew winding down a six-month Pacific deployment.

After a brief stay on Oahu, the ship will make a stop in San Diego before heading to its home port in Bremerton, Wash. But for sailors on board from Hawaii, their deployment ended here and now—at least until they return to duty after their leave.

Petty Officer 1st Class Philip Ray Fernandez, an electrician's mate from Maui, has been in the Navy for 10 years, but his voyage on the Nimitz was his first overseas deployment.

"I just loved stopping at ports, seeing different cultures, the things that they had to offer, and each port was awesome, " said Hernandez. He said he loved trying different food in places like Japan, Thailand and Singapore. Though, as the ship made its way back to Hawaii, he said he has missed the food in Hawaii and is excited for some old favorites ashore like L &L.

"Just being out at sea for this long is really interesting, " said Seaman Desiree Johnson, a graduate of Mililani High School. She said that during a port visit to Japan, she put to use her time learning Japanese in high school and realized she had learned more than she thought.

"I honestly thought I was gonna like struggle a lot more, " she said, noting she got lots of compliments on how good her Japanese was. "I was so excited and they're all so nice. ... Being able to go there and read stuff and talk to them was really, really cool."

But the deployment wasn't all sight ­seeing and culinary adventures.

The Nimitz is the flagship of the Navy's Carrier Strike Group 11, which spent much of the deployment training with allies amid tensions with China, as well as a detour to support relief efforts on Guam after Typhoon Mawar. Rear Adm. Jennifer Couture took command of the strike group at sea near the end of the deployment just weeks before sailing to Honolulu and saw the international training firsthand.

"We had the Japanese, the French, the Canadians all sailing together, all working together, all flying together, and our sailors learned how to build those relationships with people from all over the world, " said Couture. "I get to bask in the glory of a team that's been operating under the height of their competence and confidence right now."

The Nimitz, which entered service in 1975, is the oldest aircraft carrier in active serv ­ice with any of the world's navies. At any given time the massive ship can have anywhere from 5, 000 to 6, 000 sailors aboard, including air crews. There's history around every corner of the ship.

Its commander, Capt. Craig Sicola, said he began his career aboard the carrier and has been on and off the ship throughout his military serv ­ice. During this deployment he got to personally make the 350, 000th "trap, " or plane landing, on Nimitz's flight deck. He is nearing the end of his tenure and will hand over command of the ship when it reaches San Diego, where he will take on a new position.

Sicola noted that the antique desk in his office on the ship belonged to carrier's namesake, Adm. Chester Nimitz, who commanded the Navy's Pacific fleet during World War II. Underneath glass the desk is topped with the original map and plans for the Battle of Midway, which turned the tide of the war against Japan.

He said he was struck by that history during a meeting in his office with a Japanese admiral sitting with him at the desk. The Japanese admiral told him the world has changed a lot since then.

In April the strike group drilled with South Korean and Japanese naval forces. Seoul and Tokyo have long navigated a complicated relationship of their own owing to a long history of Japanese invasions and occupations of the Korean Peninsula. Relations have at times been frosty.

"Our trilateral exercise was fantastic, " said Sicola. "To bring them together was really good, and to see them come on board and work with each other—two countries who have had, you know, a past."

Warming relations between Japan and South Korea have been spurred along in part because both are concerned about China increasingly flexing its military might at sea. Tensions have run particularly high in the South China Sea, a critical trade waterway that one-third of all global trade moves through. About 70 % of all trade globally still moves by ship.

Beijing claims nearly the entire South China Sea as its exclusive sovereign territory against the objections of many of its neighbors. The Chinese military has built bases on disputed islands and reefs to assert its claims and has harassed and in some cases attacked fishermen and other maritime workers from neighboring countries. Meanwhile, the U.S. Navy has been conducting near-constant "freedom of navigation " operations in the region against China's objections.

In particular, escalating tension between China and self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing considers a rogue province, have raised concerns of the potential for conflict in the Pacific. The Taiwan Strait is one of the world's busiest shipping routes, and for the U.S. and many other countries, Taiwan itself is a key trading partner and one of the main sources of semiconductors many companies rely on to make their products work.

The establishment of blockades or the breakout of open conflict in the South China Sea could shut down commercial shipping and usher in world-changing economic impacts. Regional leaders have urged talks between the U.S. and China to ease tension, though Chinese military leaders have refused to speak with their American counterparts.

Earlier this month during a conference in Singapore, Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu waved off requests from other attendees to meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin. During the conference the Pearl Harbor-based destroyer USS Chung-Hoon, which was assigned to the Nimitz carrier strike group, was forced to slow down to avoid a collision with a Chinese navy ship that cut into its path while transiting the Taiwan Strait with a Canadian navy warship.

But Sicola said that despite the bitter words between top U.S. and Chinese officials and a few scattered incidents like the one with the Chung-Hoon, most of the encounters Nimitz has had at sea with Chinese forces were professional and uneventful.

"I would say that probably of some of the most professional interactions I've had in my 29 years with them. And people would think opposite, right ?" said Sicola. "The tensions have increased, as we know, throughout the times, and so I anticipated a little bit more tension in those interactions."

The Nimitz pulled into Pearl Harbor the same day that Secretary of State An ­tony Blinken met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to stabilize relations amid regional calls for more dialogue. Though relations remain tense, Blinken said after the meeting that they would make moves to resume talks on climate action and other issues. Sicola said, "The economic stability in this region is extremely important for not just us, but everyone in there, including the Chinese, so we all want that."

Sicola said that though the carrier group is outfitted for combat, experience fighting in wars himself has convinced him it's not in anyone's interest.

Among the crew's last missions was an unexpected call to sail to Guam as Typhoon Mawar approached. The Nimitz was able to go into action quickly after the hurricane hit, providing early response after the powerful storm swept through northern Guam and the island of Rota.

"We were able to facilitate getting power and water back to those people, and taking care ... getting them shelter was the main priority, " said Sicola.

They also took on unexpected tasks that at first seemed small, such as doing large loads of laundry for hospital workers on the island.

"They couldn't do it, " said Sicola. "Basements were flooded, there's no washers. Think about the impact of that—having dirty scrubs, dirty clothing and at a hospital trying to do surgeries under generator power. We were able to provide that for them, which is unique—that's not even in the book."

They also learned that several radio stations were affected and unable to broadcast. But the ship was able to send radio broadcasts on the island and coordinated with people on the ground to give residents information on which roads were most intact and where they could find shelter and water.

Though most of the strike group has since left as the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies took over, three Navy mass communications specialists assigned to the Nimitz are still on the ground on Guam.

"(They're ) able to go out and photograph the story, " said Sicola. "I see every day those photos and images that go all the way up to D.C., right ... and (they ) really drive support of 'What doses Guam need ?' Well, we're going to show you what Guam needs and show it to the federal government, so they can come in and help even more."

The Nimitz carrier group arrived in Hawaii one day ahead of schedule. Before leaving the ship, Johnson said she was taking the opportunity to surprise her mother in Mililani.

The strike group sailed across wide expanses of ocean during the deployment. To a casual observer the vast seas can appear indistinguishable—but for sailors who watch the waters from the deck, different stretches of ocean have different shades of blue and green. As the ships sailed closer to the Hawaiian Islands, Couture was aboard the Chung-Hoon. She said the crew of the Pearl Harbor-based ship "said right away when they saw the water, 'Oh, we're getting close to home.' They can tell."