USS Nimitz CVN-68 Five Star Aircraft Carrier Patch

Count the stars: five of them surround the carrier on this patch, the rank of fleet admiral that Chester W. Nimitz held as commander of the Pacific Fleet in World War II. He was the Navy's third fleet admiral, and the ship that carries his name was laid down on 22 June 1968 and launched on 13 May 1972. She was commissioned at Naval Station Norfolk on 3 May 1975, with President Gerald R. Ford at the ceremony. She is the lead ship of the Nimitz class and the only one of them named with the surname alone. Her crews call her Old Salt and Uncle Chester.

Nimitz was homeported at Norfolk until 1987, then moved to Bremerton, Washington, and later to North Island in San Diego, Everett and Naval Base Kitsap. In April 1980 Operation Evening Light, the attempt to rescue the American hostages held in Tehran, launched its helicopters from her flight deck. On 19 August 1981 two F-14 Tomcats of VF-41 flying from Nimitz were engaged by two Libyan Su-22s over the Gulf of Sidra, and both Libyan jets were shot down. In February 1991 she sailed for the Persian Gulf to relieve USS Ranger, and she supported Operation Southern Watch in 1993 and 1996. In April 2003 she relieved USS Abraham Lincoln and launched sorties over Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The patch is a 4-inch circle with a gold merrowed edge. USS NIMITZ arcs across the top of a white ring in gold letters, with CVN 68 below. A thin red circle frames the light blue center, where a carrier in gray and blue rides at an angle with a gold N on her deck. Five white stars shaded in blue surround the ship, the same count as a fleet admiral's rank. Gold, red, white and two blues, and the stars carry the story.

Nimitz has been in commission for more than fifty years, and after USS Enterprise was decommissioned she was the oldest carrier serving anywhere. Generations of sailors and air wing aviators learned their trade on her deck. Her motto, Teamwork, a Tradition, fits a ship that needs thousands of hands to launch one strike. In 2026 she left Kitsap and arrived at Norfolk on 9 July, with her service extended through March 2027 while USS John F. Kennedy is readied. For the plank owners of 1975 and the crew who brought her back to the East Coast, it is the same ship and the same name.

It belongs in a shadow box with your cruise book and the squadron patches from your air wing, or on a jacket worn to a Nimitz reunion. It is iron-on backed and can also be sewn on. For a plank owner or a sailor who made one of her last deployments, it is a piece of the ship to keep. Five stars, one carrier.