CVN-76 USS Ronald Reagan Peace Through Strength Patch

When USS Ronald Reagan tied up at Bremerton, Washington, on August 13, 2024, she closed out nine years as the Navy's forward deployed carrier at Yokosuka, Japan. She is CVN-76, the ninth Nimitz class carrier, named for the 40th president. Her keel went down at Newport News on February 12, 1998, and Nancy Reagan christened her there on March 4, 2001. She was commissioned at Naval Station Norfolk on July 12, 2003. Her motto, Peace Through Strength, is a line President Reagan used throughout his time in office.

She shifted her home port to San Diego in 2004 and left on her maiden deployment in January 2006 with Carrier Air Wing 14 (CVW-14), flying in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. After the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, she was off the Japanese coast flying relief under Operation Tomodachi. In 2015 she relieved CVN-73 USS George Washington at Yokosuka and became Seventh Fleet's forward deployed flattop. Carrier Air Wing 5 (CVW-5), the air wing based in Japan, flew from her deck through those years. In July 2024 the two carriers traded places in a hull swap at San Diego, and Reagan headed north to Bremerton.

The patch is an oval 5 inches wide by 3.75 inches tall, finished with a red merrowed edge. A navy blue band carries USS RONALD REAGAN across the top and CVN 76 along the bottom, with two gold stars on each side. Inside, a gridded globe shows North and South America in green, and the carrier's bow pushes through white water on the left. Three jets cross the map trailing streams of red, white and blue, and a red scroll at the foot of the globe reads PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH. The backing is iron-on, and it takes a needle just as well if you would rather sew it on.

For the Sailors of CVN-76, Yokosuka was home for nine years. Forward deployed duty meant a ship kept ready to sail on short notice, with families living ashore in Japan and the schedule set by Seventh Fleet. The relief flights of 2011 came before any of that, when she was still a San Diego ship answering a call from an ally. Her crews have stood watches across the Pacific and in the Middle East. The hull number on this patch covers all of them.

It fits a shadow box with your cruise book and CVW-14 or CVW-5 squadron patches, or the vest you wear to a ship's reunion. It also makes a good gift for a plankowner from 2003 or a Sailor who served the Yokosuka years. Three words on a red scroll, and a hull number under them.