Nimitz News

Hello NIMITZ Family and Friends,
Put another one in the win column—your Sailors continued to sprint right up to the finish and we sailed into San Diego Bay on 8 November for a fantastic homecoming celebration. I cannot say enough about the terrific performance of this crew during the entire deployment. They really hit it out of the park and set new standards for performance in many areas. We were consistently praised by all of our operational commanders for our outstanding preparation, capability, and proficiency in doing what we do—providing persistent and precise combat power from the sea, anywhere in the world.

When I last wrote, we were proceeding from Australia toward Hawaii for a short port visit and the embark of our Tigers for the voyage from Pearl Harbor to San Diego. W successfully brought all 1272 Tigers aboard for the five day trip home. I want to pass along a special thanks to LCDR Kertreck Brooks, LCDR Joni Makar, Kellie Farnsworth (the Morale Welfare and Recreation FunBoss), and the entire Tiger Cruise committee for putting on such a great show. I think the highlight was the Air Power Demonstration that Airwing Eleven put on the second day out, but there were also cyclic fight operations, an underway replenishment, the flyoff, countless tours and displays, Ship’s Company and Tiger talent shows, and lots of time for Tigers to get the feel of this great warship and crew.

The excitement level increased throughout the transit. The Airwing flyoff was executed professionally and well—just like the rest of the deployment, and all hands focused on getting the Wing’s equipment packed up and ready for offload, and getting the ship squared away for pulling into port. Tuesday, 8 November dawned a little grey, but spirits onboard and ashore were soaring. Point Loma came into sight and we made the approach to the channel with your Sailors manning the rails and their Tigers right behind them. As NIMITZ rounded the last turn we saw hundreds of you on the pier along with a couple of bands, an airborne banner, numerous vendors, and even the Budweiser Clydesdales there to welcome us home. It was quite a sight.

Four tugs helped us through the force protection barriers and alongside the pier, my command of “over all lines” was met with a great roar of approval from the folks on the pier. Though it seemed like forever, we quickly had the ship securely moored and the brows across. CS2 Chris Lizzio, Team Food Service, and AM3 Brent Brown, VAW-117, were the first Sailors ashore as the winners of the “First Kiss” drawing and greeted their wives, Ellen and Stephanie, at the top of the brow. They were quickly followed by new dads and outstanding Sailors as designated by their departments. Before long, liberty for all hands had the brows streaming with happy Sailors greeting their loved ones on the pier. For me personally, leading the team that brought this ship safely home with all hands and all our aircraft was the most fulfilling and rewarding thing I’ve done in my career. Have to tell you, it felt pretty good. It also felt good to see and participate in such a great homecoming celebration. Many thanks to Team NIMITZ, our Homecoming Committee, and our Ombudsmen for making it all happen and carrying it off so well. It was not a trivial task and the terrific result is a credit to your dedication and hard work for this great crew.

A post-deployment leave period began on arrival with a 50 % leave opportunity and working duty section only. We are about ¾ through it now and next week everyone will be back to work with normal hours. There is plenty of work to do. We will be busy during this surge-ready phase leading up to our major Planned Incremental [maintenance] Availability (PIA) later in the spring. As always, we have maintenance going on around the ship anytime we are in port. If you drive by or look at us across the bay, you can see we are applying new non-skid coating to our landing area which we will try out in an upcoming Fleet Replacement Squadron Carrier Qualification (FRSCQ). In addition to a couple of FRSCQs, we will undergo a Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) Inspection and a major propulsion plant examination after the first of the year and prior to the PIA. Once we have everyone back, the pace will quickly pick up. We’ll enjoy each other’s company at the Command Holiday Party on 9 Dec and the Children’s Christmas Party on 18 Dec. The crew will have a brief leave opportunity around Christmas and New Year’s, but we will be working normal hours if not on leave making sure we are ready for the inspections and, more importantly, to be ready to surge if required. Bottom line here is we will be pretty busy between now and the time we get into the PIA.

Finally today I want to congratulate all the new First, Second and Third Class Petty Officers. Just prior to Thanksgiving we got the advancement results and the crew did very well even though the hurdle was high. Our promotion numbers were 174 (37%) to E4, 75 (16%) to E5, and 52 (19%) to E6 for a total of 301 (25%) advancement. I will frock the new First and Second Class Petty Officers on 6 Dec and the new Third Class on the 9th following Petty Officer Indoctrination. Great work to all who advanced and for those who fell a little short of the mark, keep after it and you’ll get it next cycle.

Ok, everyone, that’s a wrap for this update. I hope you all had a terrific Thanksgiving with your Sailors. We certainly have a lot to be thankful for. Once again, I can’t say enough about your great support all during the workups and this deployment. Your success at home enabled us to excel at the tip of the spear. Thanks again for supporting this fine crew, our Navy, and our country.

Warm regards and very respectfully,

CAPT Ted Branch, USN

Commanding Officer

USS NIMITZ (CVN 68)