Navy Plans to Homeport USS Abraham Lincoln in Bremerton Alongside Reagan as Nimitz Departs for Decommissioning

Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Daryl Caudle said during a visit to Naval Base Kitsap on Wednesday, June 4, 2026, that the USS Abraham Lincoln could change its homeport from Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego to Bremerton. He also stated that the USS Ronald Reagan will remain at the base and that the future USS John F.

Kennedy will be the first Ford-class carrier permanently stationed in the area.

“Reagan is going to stay here, and I believe that Abraham Lincoln will probably, you know, change homeport to here as well,” Caudle told the Kitsap Sun. U.S. military operations in the Middle East.

It began its current deployment in November 2025 and first entered service in November 1989. The USS Ronald Reagan arrived at Naval Base Kitsap in August 2024 after nearly a decade as the Navy’s only forward-deployed carrier in Yokosuka, Japan. The USS Nimitz began a homeport shift from Bremerton to Naval Station Norfolk in March 2026 and is scheduled for decommissioning in March 2027.

Naval Base Kitsap spans more than 12,000 acres across the Kitsap Peninsula and is the Navy’s third-largest fleet concentration area in the United States. It supports all types of submarines, Nimitz-class carriers, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Manchester Fuel Depot, and is home to more than 70 tenant commands. 5-meter navigational draft of nuclear-powered carriers.

The USS Carl Vinson was previously stationed at Bremerton for several years before moving to San Diego. The USS Abraham Lincoln has undergone multiple overhauls at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility. It received a $200-million overhaul from 1995 to 1996, a six-month planned incremental availability in 2006, and a $250-million overhaul from 2009 to 2010 that included resurfacing the flight deck and replacing propellers.