The USS George Washington pulled into Naval Air Station North Island on July 10 to start performing a hull swap with the USS Ronald Reagan that had been stationed in Yokosuka, Japan, since 2015.
Contrary to how it sounds, a hull swap does not involve structural changes. Rather, the giant ships trade crews in a maneuver designed by the Navy to cut relocation expenses and allow sailors to stay in their home ports as vessels relocate.
The USS Ronald Reagan is the Navy’s only forward-deployed aircraft carrier, meaning that it is permanently stationed in a different country or region of the world, in this case, Japan.
We operate it in international waters every day. We fly international airspace every day. [Forward-deployed aircraft carriers] are designed to execute operations that reinforce the rules-based order that the world operates on.
Rear Adm. Gregory Newkirk
“We operate it in international waters every day. We fly international airspace every day. [Forward-deployed aircraft carriers] are designed to execute operations that reinforce the rules-based order that the world operates on,” Rear Adm. Gregory Newkirk said.
Newkirk is commander of Carrier Strike Group Five, which is permanently assigned to the U.S. 7th Fleet, the Navy fleet headquartered at Yokosuka.
Newkirk said forward-deployed groups train and operate with allied nations so that in the event that there is a challenge to the “international norm” they are there to uphold international order.
The hull swap
This hull swap has been years in the making, according to the commanding officer’s of both aircraft carriers, and includes moving people, equipment and anything else the crew might need for their next mission.
Coronado typically has three aircraft carriers stationed at the base – the USS Carl Vinson, the USS Theodore Roosevelt and the USS Abraham Lincoln – but they are currently underway, leaving room for the two new carriers to port for a few weeks.
“This is a really, kind of, historic event,” said Capt. Loren Jacobi, executive officer of Naval Base Coronado, during a July 24 press conference. “Normally, we don’t host these two ships here.”
The USS George Washington has been dry docked in Virginia since 2017 and the USS Ronald Reagan was in Japan, so neither crew is from Coronado.
“This is something that happens about once every ten years where we switch out the aircraft carrier that is forward deployed in Japan,” Newkirk said. “One of the most important global alliances that we have.”
The USS Ronald Reagan will travel to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Washington, D.C., for a scheduled maintenance cycle for nuclear-powered aircraft carriers.
And this is the second time the USS George Washington is going back to Yokosuka, having previously arrived in Japan in 2008 as the first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier to be forward-deployed there, before being relieved by the USS Ronald Reagan in 2015.
“This is a milestone event that we have been working for,” said Capt. Timothy Waits, commanding officer of the USS George Washington. “It will be, sort of, a homecoming.”
Potential population increase
With the two ships swapping crews, Coronado City Council member Mike Donovan mentioned at the July 16 meeting that there might be an increase in activity on the island.
“There’s going to be as many as 9,000 people that are going to be here that typically aren’t,” Donovan said.
However, according to Jacobi, the influx of people from the new aircraft carriers should not make a difference environmentally or socially on the island in terms of traffic and population, as the crews of the permanently assigned carriers are at sea.
“Really no net increase in impact to the local area or local environment because we haven’t changed the number of ships that are here at any given time,” Jacobi explained.
Jacobi also added that, because these crews are not from Coronado, Naval Base Coronado has made an effort to make them feel welcomed to the city, organizing comedy nights and other events so the sailors can get to know the people and the island.
