USS Nimitz Enters Caribbean on Southern Seas 2026 Mission as 51-Year Carrier Shifts to Norfolk
Updated
Updated · Forbes · May 20
USS Nimitz Enters Caribbean on Southern Seas 2026 Mission as 51-Year Carrier Shifts to Norfolk
7 articles · Updated · Forbes · May 20
USS Nimitz is operating in the Caribbean, making it the first U.S. aircraft carrier in those waters since USS Gerald R. Ford deployed to the Middle East in February.
SOUTHCOM said the carrier strike group entered its area of responsibility as Nimitz shifts homeport from Bremerton, Washington, to Norfolk, Virginia, after sailing around South America because the carrier is too large for the Panama Canal.
Southern Seas 2026 has paired the carrier with regional exercises, Latin American engagements and support for Operation Southern Spear, the U.S. narcotics interdiction mission in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
The move coincides with U.S. charges against former Cuban leader Raúl Castro over the 1996 shoot-down of two U.S. civilian aircraft, sharpening attention on Cuba as Trump again raises intervention threats.
Nimitz, commissioned in 1975 and due for decommissioning in March 2027, this month became the longest-serving U.S. Navy carrier at 51 years and six days of operational service.
As a U.S. carrier patrols the Caribbean, what is the goal of charging a 94-year-old with a 30-year-old crime?
Amid a 'total blockade' and humanitarian crisis, can the U.S. maximum pressure strategy actually succeed in changing Cuba?
Did U.S. inaction in 1996, despite warnings, help create the crisis being used to justify new sanctions today?