This is the aircraft carrier that will headline LA Fleet Week — and it’s super
LA Fleet Week officials announced which Navy aircraft carrier and Coast Guard cutter will be docked in San Pedro this week.
An aircraft carrier will glide into the Port of Los Angeles’ Outer Harbor this week — and it’s going to be super.
And in this case, that’s literal.
The Nimitz-class USS Carl Vinson, considered a supercarrier, will be one of two military ships that will be on display and open for tours in the Los Angeles Harbor during LA Fleet Week, said retired Navy Lt. Cmdr. Ken Hagihara, spokesperson for the LA Fleet Week Foundation. The other ship, Hagihara said in a Friday email, is the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Terrell Horne.
But it’s likely the USS Carl Vinson that will awe Fleet Week visitors.
“The flight deck is 4 or 5 acres,” said Jonathan Williams, who is the president and CEO of the Battleship Iowa, as well as the president and founder of LA Fleet Week. “This is maybe five times (the size) of anything we’ve had.
“Think ‘Top Gun’ and ‘Top Gun Maverick,’” he added, referencing the popular Tom Cruise action films. “It is an impressive vessel. I suspect there will be some aircraft on her but we haven’t had full confirmation of that.”
The USS Abraham Lincoln was the last aircraft carrier to visit the harbor in 2011, but that was for a smaller Navy Week event, the precursor to Fleet Week. Still, it drew a surprising crush of visitors, who stood in long lines to get on board.
Ever since LA Fleet Week officially launched in 2016, attempts to book another carrier haven’t come through.
Until now.
The Carl Vinson launched in March 1980 and is the U.S. Navy’s third Nimitz-class supercarrier — and one of only 11 operational aircraft carriers in the Navy today.
With the air wing embarked, the 1,092 foot-long ship can carry more than 60 attack fighter jets, helicopters and other aircraft that launch from and land on the carrier at sea.
“Powerful catapults slingshot the aircraft off the bow of the ship, and these same planes return to the carrier by snagging a steel cable with an arresting hook that protrudes from the rear of the aircraft,” the Navy’s website says. “All of this makes Vinson a self-contained mobile airport and strike platform, often the first response to a global crisis because of an aircraft carrier’s ability to operate freely in international waters anywhere on the world’s oceans.”
The ship was deployed in Operation Desert Strike, Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Southern Watch and Operation Enduring Freedom.
And the body of Osama bin Laden was buried at sea in 2011 from the deck of the Carl Vinson. That same year, the ship hosted the first NCAA basketball game on an aircraft carrier, between the University of North Carolina and Michigan State.
More recently, the Carl Vinson operated in the South China Sea.
The vessel carries a crew of more than 3,000 sailors and, in October 2009, the U.S. Navy announced it would be the flagship of the newly established Carrier Strike Group One based in San Diego.
The warship is named for former U.S. Rep. Carl Vinson, D-Georgia, who served in the Navy from 1914 to 1965. He was chairman of the House Naval Affairs and Armed Services Committee, and was the principal sponsor of the so-called “Vinson Acts,” culminating in the Two-Ocean Navy Act of 1940, which provided a massive naval shipbuilding effort in World War II. He died in June 1981.
The Terrell Horne, meanwhile, was commissioned on March 22, 2019. It is named after Coast Guard Senior Chief Terrell Horne III, who died after being injured during a maritime law enforcement operation off the California coast in December 2012.
It won’t be a long trek for the Terrell Horne to attend Fleet Week, which runs from Friday to Monday, May 24-27. The cutter’s home port, after all, is in Los Angeles/Long Beach.
Both the USS Carl Vinson and the Terrell Horne will be open for free tours during LA Fleet Week. Public tour hours will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday to Sunday, and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Memorial Day. Tours are first-come, first-served. There are no advance reservations available.
The Carl Vincent aircraft carrier will be berthed in San Pedro’s Outer Harbor and visitors will need to board a shuttle bus from the main LA Fleet Week Expo area adjacent to the Battleship Iowa, 250 S. Harbor Blvd.
The Coast Guard cutter will be berthed near the Los Angeles Maritime Museum next to the Expo area, near Fifth Street and Harbor Boulevard.
Throughout the event, areas south of 22nd Street leading to the Outer Harbor will be closed to those without advanced clearance.
If you go
There are some guidelines for those wanting to tour of one of the ships:
- All adults must present a valid government-issued identification (state ID card, driver’s license or passport). Non-U.S. citizens must show valid passports and will be subject to a brief additional screening before boarding the vessels. Photocopies of IDs will not be accepted. Tours are free and on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Tour lines form at the main expo footprint adjacent to the Battleship Iowa.
Restrictions:
- Visitors must be at least 5 years old.
- No strollers are permitted on ships.
- Visitors must be able to walk unassisted without the aid of supporting devices.
- Visitors must be able to walk through tight spaces and up and down steep ladders.
- An equivalency experience will be offered if desired.
- No public restrooms are available aboard the ships, but will be available on the dock.
- Wear closed-toed shoes; flip-flops and high heels are discouraged.
- No pets allowed.
- No banners, flags or political propaganda is permitted.
The Battleship Iowa will also be open, as usual, for paid tours. Active military veterans will be admitted free all weekend for the Iowa with confirmation of military ID.