Service History
On 8 May 2004, following her five-month post-shakedown availability (PSA), the aircraft carrier Ronald Reagan received her second flight deck certification which encompassed all flight operations, including aircraft launch and recovery, safety, crash and salvage, fuel certifications, and training. Reagan then began her transit from Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, around Cape Horn, South America, to her new homeport of Naval Air Station North Island, San Diego.
Carrier Air Wing Eleven, normally assigned to the USS Nimitz, embarked only 25 percent of its total strength for the transit. The squadrons making the transit were VFA-14 and VFA-41 flying the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, VAW-117 flying the E-2C Hawkeye 2000, HS-6 flying the SH-60F Seahawk and VRC-30 flying the C-2A Greyhound. The ship transited the Strait of Magellan on 20–21 June and made port visits to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Valparaíso, Chile, and Callao, Peru before arriving in San Diego on 23 July 2004.
From 1 October 2004, Reagan was assigned to Carrier Strike Group Fifteen.
Read more about this topic: USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76)
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