Huge warship Gathering of US Naval Vessels, December 2012

I thought I would document here at SD an almost unprecedented event that occurred at Norfolk Naval Station, and elsewhere in December of 2012. A HUGE gathering of US warships on that date. Five US nuclear powered super aircraft carriers and four large Amphibious assault carriers were all gathered at Norfolk at one time, with most of their support vessels.

Here's a full picture of the entire Norfolk Naval Station dock on that day, December 20, 2012.


The following vessels were all lined up there:

- Nimitz Class CVN, USS Dwight Eisenhower, CVN-69
- Nimitz Class CVN, USS George Bush, CVN-77
- Enterprise CVN, USS Enterprise, CVN-65
- Wasp Class LHD, USS Bonhomme Richard, LHD-6
- Nimitz Class CVN, USS Abraham Lincoln CVN-72
- Nimitz Class CVN, USS Harry Trumna CVN-75
- Wasp Class LHD, USS Wasp, LHD-1
- Oliver H. Perry Class FFG, Guided-missile Frigate
- Wasp Class LHD, USS Kearsage, LHD-3
- San Antonio Class LPD, Amphibious Platform Dock
- AOR Replenishment Vessel
- AOR Replenishment Vessel
- Wasp Class LHD, USS Iwo Jima, LHD-7
- Burke Class DDG, Guided-missile Destroyer
- Burke Class DDG, Guided-missile Destroyer
- Burke Class DDG, Guided-missile Destroyer
- Burke Class DDG, Guided-missile Destroyer
- AOR Replenishment Vessel
- Burke Class DDG, Guided-missile Destroyer
- Burke Class DDG, Guided-missile Destroyer
- San Antonio Class LPD, Amphibious Platform Dock
- Burke Class DDG, Guided-missile Destroyer
- Burke Class DDG, Guided-missile Destroyer
- Burke Class DDG, Guided-missile Destroyer
- Ticonderoga Class CG, Guided-missile Cruiser
- Ticonderoga Class CG, Guided-missile Cruiser
- Burke Class DDG, Guided-missile Destroyer
- AOR Replenishment Vessel

That's a total of:

- 05 Nuclear Aircraft Carriers at 100,000 tons each
- 04 Amphibious Assault Carriers at 40,000 tons each
- 02 Amphibious Platform Docks at 25,000 tons each
- 04 Replishment Vessels at 35,000+ tons each
- 02 Guided-missle Cruisers at 10,000 tons each
- 10 Guided-missile Destroyers at 9,500 tons each
- 01 Guided-missile frigate at 4,500 tons

So, a total of 28 vessels and 1,260,000 tons of warships.

But that was not all, at four other bases, San Diego, Bremerton, Pearl Harbor, and in Yokosuka Japan, similar events occurred at that time, December, 2012, but not with four groups at each base. In those bases, one nuclear carrier, one Amphibious Assault Carrier, one LPD, two crusiers, four destroyers, two frigates, and two replenishment vessels were docked at each. Here are pictures of those bases, but not on that date.


So, with those vessels docked in December 2012 at those bases, there was another total of:

- 04 Nuclear Aircraft Carriers at 100,000 tons each
- 04 Amphibious Assault Carriers at 40,000 tons each
- 04 Landing Platform Docks at 25,000 tons each
- 08 Replenishment vessels at 35,000+ tons each
- 08 Guided-missile Cruisers at 10,000 tons each
- 16 Guided-missile Destroyes at 9,500 tons each
- 08 Gudied-missile Frigates at 4,500 tons each

52 more vessels and 1,230,000 tons.

So, on Christmas Day, 2012, the US Navy a total of 80 of its largest, most capable vessels docked in five different bases at one time, amounting to over, 2,500,000 tons of naval war vessels.

The US has a total of 10 nuclear carriers, 9 were docked at those bases at that time.
The US has a total of 10 amphibious assault carreirs, 8 were docked at those bases at that time.
The US has a total of 9 San Antonio LPDs, 6 were docked at those bases at that time
The US has a total of 22 Gudied-missile cruisers, 10 were docked at those bases at that time.
The US has a total of 62 guided-missile destroyers, 26 were docked at those bases at that time.
The US has a total of 17 guided-missile firgates, 9 were docked at those bases at that time.
The US has a total of 30+ replinshement vessels of all sorts, 12 were docked at those bases at that time.

It represented a sizable part of the US Navy's entire surface fleet docked at five bases at one time. It represented a very large majority of the US Navy's surface naval power projection capability docked at those five bases at that time.

Feel free to discuss this event, or other similar events for the US Navy or other nations in the past.

preparing for a possible apocalyptic event on Dec. 21, 2012?

vesicles said:

preparing for a possible apocalyptic event on Dec. 21, 2012?

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Well, hehehe...I would ave expected that all of them would have been widely dispersed by that date, in that event.

No, just a huge home for the holidays thing I expect, and I mean huge. I do not remember when so much of the active fleet was all docked at one time.

Maybe Obama was getting ready for sequestration or something. Who knows?

Currently USN has 286 deployable active ships

Three carriers are deployed

USS Nimitz (CVN 68) - 5th Fleet
USS George Washington (CVN 73) - West Pacific
USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) - Atlantic Ocean

Along with Amphibious Assault Ships:
USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) - 5th Fleet
USS Boxer (LHD 4) - Pacific Ocean
USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) - 7th Fleet

asif iqbal said:

Currently USN has 286 deployable active ships

Three carriers are deployed

USS Nimitz (CVN 68) - 5th Fleet
USS George Washington (CVN 73) - West Pacific
USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) - Atlantic Ocean

Along with Amphibious Assault Ships:
USS Kearsarge (LHD 3) - 5th Fleet
USS Boxer (LHD 4) - Pacific Ocean
USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) - 7th Fleet

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What you find is that normally, there are about 30% deployed on station, about 40% in-transit or at dock/leave. And about 30% working up for, in, or coming out of overhaul.

Those are just general numbers.

Most of the ships listed in this thread from December 2012, were actual major surface combatant ships except for the AORs, but those AORs are necessary for sustained operations.

You take away the other support vessels, the smaller combatants, the smaller amphibs (I just included the LHDs and LPDs), the submarines (because we were talking about surface combatants here), and other research vessels from the 286 number, and you have a signficantly smaller number. 80 out of that number is a large chunk of the whole.

I see one CV Midway to Kitsap is which ?

Any informations for USN reserve combat ships ? especially CV.

FORBIN said:

I see one CV Midway to Kitsap is which ?

Any informations for USN reserve combat ships ? especially CV.

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The pictures of the other bases (as I sate) were not made in December 2012. The one for Yokosatu, Japan shows the USS Ktty Hawk coming in to dock there.

I have a page I put up some time ago regarding in 2005.


Those carriers are the USS Ranger CV-61 (A Forrestal Class), USS Independence CV-62 (A Forrestal Class), and USS Constellation CV-64 (A Kitty Hawk Class), which are all still there. Since that time, the USS Kitty Hawk CV-63, is also now docked there in reserve. There are no Midway Class carries at Kitsap/Bremerton.

The US has a few others elsewhere, ie. in Philidelphia where the JFK and at leat one other are located.

FORBIN said:

I see one CV Midway to Kitsap is which ?

Any informations for USN reserve combat ships ? especially CV.

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The only Midway class CV left is the Midway which is an aircraft carrier museum in San Diego.

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Only the Kitty Hawk is held in reserve. The other retired CVs are awaiting disposal;

bd popeye said:

The only Midway class CV left is the Midway which is an aircraft carrier museum in San Diego.

[h=3]

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[/h]

Only the Kitty Hawk is held in reserve. The other retired CVs are awaiting disposal;

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Corrrect.

When I was at Bremerton in 2005, the carriers docked there were:

USS Ranger CV-61 (A Forrestal Class)
USS Independence CV-62 (A Forrestal Class)
USS Constellation CV-64 (A Kitty Hawk Class)

All of those are still there awaiting disposal.

Since that time, the USS Kitty Hawk CV-63, is also now docked there in reserve.

There are no Midway Class carries at Kitsap/Bremerton.

If you know the name of a ship you can go to;

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...And find out the status of that ship. Just click on "Ship

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".

Let's see how the retired carriers are doing..

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You may be surprised at the status of the Enterprise given her present condition.