The USS Ronald Reagan in Santa Barbara Harbor in June 2014. The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier recently completed Drydocking Planned Incremental Availability (DPIA) at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF) and soon will begin post-maintenance trials. (Shutterstock/VDB Photos)
The USS Ronald Reagan Could Return to Service in Spring 2027
The Reagan just spent the last 17 months undergoing maintenance at Naval Base Kitsap in Washington.
Ship spotters on social media shared a video of the United States Navy’s USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) departing from Bremerton, Washington, on Thursday to begin sea trials.
The USS Ronald Reagan just finished a 17-month Drydocking Planned Incremental Availability (DPIA) at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF). It is now underway in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It soon will begin post maintenance sea trials that will be followed by a rigorous phase of certifications, integration, and training to prepare for full operational readiness.
The crew has already begun some of the pre-deployment exercises and last month conducted flight deck training while in port at Naval Base Kitsap-Bremerton.
CVN-76 is expected to be ready for its next deployment in spring 2027.
About the USS Ronald Reagan
The ninth Nimitz-class supercarrier, CVN-76, is named for the 40th president of the United States. President Ronald Reagan, who served from 1981 until 1989, oversaw massive increases in US military spending. While in office, “The Gipper” envisioned a “600-ship navy” to combat the Soviet Union and America’s other adversaries around the world. These plans were ultimately curtailed by the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and the collapse of the Soviet Union two years later, under the leadership of Reagan’s vice president and successor, George H.W. Bush.
The carrier was commissioned on July 12, 2003.
As one of the final two flattops of the Nimitz-class, the USS Ronald Reagan has yet to reach the halfway point of its service life and, following a midlife refueling in the early 2030s, is expected to remain in operation until at least the mid-2050s.
The USS Ronald Reagan’s Specifications
- Length: 1,092 ft (332.8 m)
- Beam (Width): 252 ft (76.8 m)
- Displacement: 101,400 long tons
- Propulsion:
- Two Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors (HEU 93.5%)[3][4]
- Four steam turbines
- Four shafts
- 260,000 shp (190 MW)
- Speed: 30+ knots (56 km/h; 35 mph)
- Range: Unlimited, 20-25 years
- Armament:
- Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile
- Rolling Airframe Missile
- Close-in weapons system (CIWS)
- Aircraft it can carry: 90
- Crew:
- Ship’s company: 3,532
- Air wing: 2,480
Where the USS Ronald Reagan Has Been Recently
The USS Ronald Reagan was forward-deployed to Yokosuka, Japan, from October 2015 through May 2024, where it served as the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 5 (CSG-5). It swapped hulls with the USS George Washington (CVN-73), which is now operating in the Arabian Sea in support of US military operations in the Middle East.
CVN-76 has been homeported at Naval Base Kitsap since August 13, 2024.
It spent the past 17 months in Drydocking Planned Incremental Availability (DPIA) at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), the specialized industrial shipyard located within the Bremerton portion of Naval Base Kitsap. PSNS & IMF is the only facility on the West Coast able to conduct such maintenance on the massive vessels.
Unlike a Planned Incremental Period, which is the scheduled shipyard period when the warships undergo extensive maintenance, repairs, and modernization, the DPIA requires the vessel to be placed into a dry dock for work and testing that cannot be done while the ship is in the water. That can include overhaul of the propulsion shafts, repairs to rudders, preservation work on the hull tanks, and inspection of the ship’s propeller.
The work is far more extensive, and requires coordination between the ship’s crew, civilian contractors, and the shipyard personnel.
The ship completed its DPIA in August.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu has contributed to dozens of newspapers, magazines and websites over a 30-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. He is based in Michigan. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.
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