The USS Carl Vinson will return to Bremerton next year for the first time in more than a decade for maintenance at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.
The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is scheduled to receive more than a year of dry-dock maintenance at the shipyard starting in March 2019 and running through July 2020, according to the Navy's recently released fiscal year 2019 budget.
"I and the entire shipyard team are looking forward to supporting Vinson here at the shipyard in 2019, and we're committed to continue to provide her our very best support while she's in our care," said PSNS commanding officer Capt. Howard Markle.
Vinson was last homeported in Bremerton in 2005. The carrier departed that year to complete a mid-life refueling overhaul at Northrop Grumman Newport News Shipyard and Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia. Since 2010, the carrier has been homeported at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego.
"USS Carl Vinson is no stranger to our team," Markle said. "Our association with Vinson dates back almost 30 years, with the ship undergoing an overhaul here beginning in 1990. More recently, we continue to maintain the ship in her current homeport in San Diego and are proud of the service we've provided to keep her in peak operational condition."
The carrier is currently underway on a regularly scheduled deployment.
The Carl Vinson Carrier Strike Group departed San Diego on Jan. 5 to conduct "routine maritime operations, promote freedom of navigation, and work with partners and allies to enhance regional security and stability" in the western Pacific Ocean, according to a press release.
While underway, Vinson is joined by the embarked air squadrons of Carrier Air Wing Two, the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Champlain and the guided-missile destroyers USS Wayne E. Meyer and USS Michael Murphy.
Naval Base Kitsap spokesman Jake Chappelle was unable to comment on whether Bremerton would become home to three carriers in 2019.
Bremerton is currently the homeport for two aircraft carriers, USS Nimitz and USS John C. Stennis.
Next month, Nimitz will begin a year of dry-dock maintenance at the shipyard after returning in December from a six-month-long deployment to the Arabian Gulf and western Pacific Ocean.
Nimitz is scheduled to be temporarily homeported in Bremerton until 2019, at which time the Navy will decide whether to keep the carrier at Naval Base Kitsap or have it return to Naval Station Everett.
Everett was supposed to be Nimitz's homeport in the Northwest, but the Navy decided in 2015 to temporarily shift the carrier's homeport to Bremerton so families and crew members didn't have to keep shuffling between the two installations with the carrier's deployment schedule and visits to the shipyard.
When the Navy decided to keep Nimitz at Naval Base Kitsap, it marked the first time Bremerton was officially home to two carriers.
USS John C. Stennis will depart Bremerton sometime during the second half of the year for a regularly scheduled deployment. The Navy has not yet officially announced when the carrier will depart Bremerton, where it will go or how long the ship will be underway, said Stennis spokesman Lt. Cmdr. Frederick Martin.
ALSO SEE: USS Nimitz returns home to Bremerton
