Wasn't the last ship in the class, USS
George H.W. Bush, supposed to serve up until the year 2058 originally?
The DriveQuote:
Nimitz Class Carriers Could Serve Longer Under New Shipbuilding Plan
The Navy is now investigating whether some Nimitz-class carriers could keep operating after their projected retirement dates.
BY
HOWARD ALTMAN
APR 21, 2022 6:57 PM
The U.S. Navy has launched a study to investigate the possibility of keeping some of its Nimitz class carriers sailing beyond their currently projected retirement dates. The service is looking into this possibility as a way to ensure that it has sufficient aircraft carrier capacity in the decades to come. This all comes at a time when China is growing its naval forces and existing American carriers are reaching the end of their original expected service lives.
The Navy announced that it was conducting this study as part of the rollout of its latest 30-year shipbuilding plan earlier this week. As it stands now, the plan sees the service largely being able to sustain a fleet of 11 aircraft carriers, including new Ford class ships, as is required by law, through at least the 2039 Fiscal Year. In that period, there is an expected dip down to only 10 flattops in the 2027 Fiscal Year, but the fleet size is expected to go right back to the baseline in the next fiscal cycle.
It's not clear yet how many total Nimitz class carriers the Navy could be looking to extend the service life of or what specific ships might be under consideration. The service's shipbuilding plan currently calls for the decommissioning of the USS Nimitz and the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in Fiscal Years 2025 and 2027, respectively. There have also been discussions about retiring the USS Harry S. Truman early. Those divestments, if they proceed, would bring the total number of Nimitz class carriers in service down from 10 to seven in the coming years.Somewhat akin to what a new employee might get from the human resources department when discussing health care, the Navy’s overall 30-year plan offers three options for shipbuilding beyond Fiscal Year 2027. The options kick in after the completion of the Future Years Defense Program, which lays out the Navy's shipbuilding plans for the new five fiscal years, including those contained in the Navy's recently announced Fiscal Year 2023 budget request.
(..SNIPPED)