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Gold Eagle to nest in Guam for flight-deck resurfacing

7th Fleet News

Release Date: 5/20/2003

By USS Carl Vinson Battle Group public affairs

APRA HARBOR, Guam - USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) returned to Guam May 19 to resurface the carrier's 4 ½-acre flight deck.

Two other ships from the Carl Vinson's battle group ships will join the Gold Eagle on her third port call to the Mariana Islands: the frigate USS Ingraham (FFG 61), homeported in Everett, Wash., will visit Saipan, while the fast combat support ship USS Sacramento (AOE 1), homeported in Bremerton, Wash., will join Carl Vinson in Guam.

Although the visit will be a working port for the more than 6,000 crew members, the Sailors and Marines will have the opportunity to sightsee, experience the hospitality of their hosts and participate in community-service projects.

The Carl Vinson Battle Group was ordered to the Western Pacific on Feb. 7 to backfill the Kitty Hawk (CV 63) Battle Group, which deployed to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility in the Arabian Gulf and participated in Operation Iraqi Freedom. USS Kitty Hawk returned to Yokosuka on May 6, and has since begun an extended maintenance period.

Carl Vinson and her escorts will remain in the Western Pacific while Kitty Hawk undergoes maintenance in order to maintain a responsible defensive posture in the region.

The ships in the carrier strike group were originally scheduled to return to their respective homeports in July following a six-month deployment. The extension will delay that until early November.

The Carl Vinson Battle Group is currently deployed in the Western Pacific as part of America's standing commitment to maintain peace and stability in cooperation with allies and friends in the region.

USS Carl Vinson Sailors departed Bremerton, Wash., on Jan. 13. The Navy's third Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, the ship was commissioned March 13, 1982, displaces more than 95,000 tons and carries approximately 75 combat and support aircraft. From its 4.5-acre flight deck, the carrier can quickly launch and recover the world's most modern military aircraft to operate with other elements of the U.S. Armed Forces as well as those of allied nations.