Ronald Reagan USS – History
The government awarded the contract to Northrop Grumman Newport to build Ronald Reagan on 8 December 1994. The company laid down her keel on 12 February 1998.
Reagan’s wife Nancy christened Ronald Reagan on 4 March 2001 at Newport News Shipbuilding.
The crew moved aboard on 30 October 2002. The US Navy commissioned the ship on 12 July 2003 at Naval Station Norfolk, with Captain J. W. Goodwin in command.
Ronald Reagan USS – In Service
President Reagan, who did not attend either the launch or the commissioning due to Alzheimer’s disease, died 11 months later.
The ship visited Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 5 June 2004, and during the first evening after arrival, the ship’s namesake, Ronald Reagan, died.
A ceremony in his honor was held onboard later that evening, soon after the US national anthem was publicly played.
Soon Ronald Reagan departed San Diego on 4 January 2006, on her maiden deployment to conduct naval operations in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. It conducted maritime security operations in the Persian Gulf.
On 15 December 2007, the carrier answered a distress call from a cruise ship off the coast of Baja California.
Later, SH-60 helicopter on Ronald Reagan USS airlifted an Illinois teenager whose appendix had ruptured while on a Mexican cruise. An emergency appendectomy was performed by the ship’s surgeon.
The CSG arrived in the U.S. Fifth Fleet area on 28 August 2008, where she launched more than 1,150 sorties into Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. Ronald Reagan returned to San Diego on 25 November 2008.
In November 2010, the ship provided emergency supplies and assistance to passengers stranded in the Pacific Ocean aboard the Carnival Splendor, which had lost power by an engine fire.
On 11 March 2011, Ronald Reagan was in the Korean peninsula region for a long-planned exercise off Korea. Later navy redirected Ronald Reagan USS towards Japan to provide support after the massive 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
The ship then participated in Exercise Valiant Shield 2016 before making a port call at Guam. The ship participating in Invincible Spirit, a joint exercise with South Korean forces in the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea Ronald Reagan returned to Yokosuka on 21 November.