The Navy is moving its aircraft carriers to ready them for a potential fight with China and Russia - here's where they're headed
The USS Abraham Lincoln, which is currently homeported in Norfolk, Virginia, will move to San Diego and rejoin the Pacific fleet.
The Lincoln joined the fleet in 1989 and was part of the Pacific fleet from 1990 to 2011. It moved to Norfolk from Everett, Washington, in 2011 for midlife refueling, known as reactor complex overhaul, which wrapped up in mid-2017.
Source: USNI News
With the Lincoln back on the West Coast and the Stennis and Vinson heading east, the Navy will still have five of its 10 Nimitz-class nuclear-powered carriers assigned to the Pacific Fleet.
Source: USNI News
The USS John C. Stennis will move from its current homeport at Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington, to Norfolk, where it will undergo midlife refueling.
The Stennis entered service in 1995. Nimitz-class carriers have a service life of 50 years, but they must relocate to Newport News in Virginia to get the reactor refueling, as that is the only facility that can carry it out.
Source: USNI News
The Stennis has been stationed at Kitsap since 2005, when it relocated from San Diego. The carrier left port without notice at the end of July and will conduct training exercises while underway. It's expected to deploy later this year, though the Navy has not said when it will leave or how long it will be gone.
Source: USNI News, Kitsap Sun
The USS Carl Vinson will stay on the West Coast, moving from Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego to Kitsap in Washington. The ship has been stationed at North Island since 2010.
The Vinson, which was commissioned in 1982, will move north ahead of its planned incremental maintenance at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
The Vinson finished at three-month deployment in the western Pacific in April — a trip that included the first visit by a US aircraft carrier to Vietnam since the end of the Vietnam War. More recently, the Vinson took part in the multinational Rim of the Pacific exercises off Hawaii.
Source: USNI News
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