I went to San Diego a few months back, and while there I took a harbor tour of the naval base and port that is there. I was fortunate to see three giant Nimitz Class carriers all at once, as well as the rare oppertunity to see an Ohio Class boomer.

A US Coast Guard cutter cruising at high speed in the harbor.
http://img145.exs.cx/img145/6365/picture0703kn.jpg

The stern of the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN68).
http://img185.exs.cx/img185/772/picture1136sh.jpg

A close up of te bow of the Nimitz. Notice the sailor at the front of the ship.
http://img192.exs.cx/img192/4065/picture1164ud.jpg

An umarked Ohio Class ballistic missile submarine. There likely were nuclear weapons onboard the ship at the time. At far right you can see the ast-casing of a Los Angeles Class attack sub.
http://img190.exs.cx/img190/4049/picture1059pe.jpg

The guided missile destroyer Pinckney (DDG91) still under construction.
http://img198.exs.cx/img198/3016/picture0799yp.jpg

An experimental prototype catamaran, named Sea Flyer. I've never heard of it, but it looks like it features stealth technology.
http://img179.exs.cx/img179/8873/picture0836lt.jpg

AEGIS missile cruiser USS Antietam (CG54) with assualt ship USS Tarawa (LHA1) behind.
http://img178.exs.cx/img178/6034/picture0848rh.jpg

Guided missile frigate USS McClusky (FFG41) in the foregrounnd. Behind it is the oil tanker Alaskan Explorer.
http://img84.exs.cx/img84/8515/picture0739aw.jpg

A beautiful sunset taken from the hotel room balcony. In the port you can see three Nimitz Class carriers: (from left to right) USS Abraham Lincoln CVN72, USS Ronald Reagan CVN76, and USS Nimitz CVN68.
http://img173.exs.cx/img173/7316/picture2000an.jpg

Another shot taken earier that day when the Lincoln came into port.
http://img179.exs.cx/img179/7661/picture1564wy.jpg

PLEASE DO NOT POST ANY POLITICAL REMARKS. My point here is to exhibit these vessels as the feats of engineering they are. Thank you.

Great pictures STR, three massive carriers and stunning scenery :okay:

If your interested there are some good Royal Navy pics on this site :wink2:

http://www.photos.mod.uk/fotoweb/

Thanks for the pics. They are most excellent.

And if anyone's intereted, I do haave a few more photos from the harbor. I got about 75m-100m from the Nimitz on the run back to the dock, so there's a few more close-ups.

Nice shot of an Ohio at a relatively close range, I bet she was packing big time.

I wasn't too close to the sub pen. I got as close as 200-250m from the floating black markers. The close-up effect was achieved via the optical zoom on my digicam. As I said above, I got REALLY close to the USS Nimitz. I was probably 25m from the parimeter floats, and another 50m to the ship itself.

amazing shots there STR! :) some heavy shit floatin'...

How come so many carriers and an Ohio class sub were in San Diego all at once? Is there a fleet week festival coming up?

The Reagan was still on work-up to its first deployment late this year. The Nimitz had recently arrived from its first (and only) refueling and overhaul. So it was also on work-up to its first deployment. The Lincoln was stopping over on its way to the West Pacific. The Lincoln was only in port for one day, then it departed with a couple of Arleigh Burkes. I don't know why the Ohio was there. No boomers are stationed in San Diego, I assume it was a stopover on he way back from patrol, or possibly exercise.

I was just lucky to see all of them.

Here's a couple more shots of the Lincoln departing that I stitched together into an animation. It took about 30 minutes for her to completely leave the harbor.

http://img72.echo.cx/img72/2117/lincolndepartssmall0uk.gif

Very nice photos! Both the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Ronald Reagan must be the newest aircraft carriers in the US Navy's fleet. They are capable of projecting influence all the way around the world. Amazing ships!!

I've been there, cool place!!!

Very nice photos! Both the USS Abraham Lincoln and the USS Ronald Reagan must be the newest aircraft carriers in the US Navy's fleet. They are capable of projecting influence all the way around the world. Amazing ships!!

Reagan is the newest carrier, but the Lincoln is over 10 years old.