Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan Dunfee, from Shadyside, Ohio, mans the railing of the USS Ronald Reagan as the aircraft carrier approaches Naval Station Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington, Aug. 13, 2024. (Ryan Freiburghaus/US Navy)

Sailors manned the railing of the USS Ronald Reagan on Tuesday as the aircraft carrier sailed through Puget Sound toward Naval Station Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington, where it underwent a scheduled overhaul.

The ship arrived just three days after departing Naval Air Station North Island, California, where it exchanged about 350 sailors – or about 13% of its crew – with the aircraft carrier USS George Washington.

“Even though Ronald Reagan’s time in the 7th Fleet is over, we are still fighting,” Capt. Daryle Cardone, the ship’s captain, said in a Navy press release Tuesday. “The success of our deployments to date is a testament to the combat capability of the crew and demonstrates our adaptability in an ever-changing theater of war.”

The Ronald Reagan’s achievements during her deployment with the 7th Fleet will also benefit the crew as they prepare for the ship’s “next chapter,” he added.

The aircraft carrier was one of four Navy aircraft carriers operating in the Indo-Pacific.

The George Washington is scheduled to replace the Ronald Reagan as the heart of Carrier Strike Group 5 of the 7th Fleet at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan.

On August 1, the two carriers began their exchange, which included personnel and aircraft from Carrier Air Wing 5 as well as personnel from Task Force 70 and Destroyer Squadron 15.

Where the George Washington was and whether it had left California was not immediately clear on Wednesday.

Spokespeople for the Japanese Navy, the U.S. 3rd Fleet, and the USS Ronald Reagan and USS George Washington did not immediately respond to phone calls and emails seeking comment.

The aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan sails through Puget Sound to its new homeport at Naval Station Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington, on August 13, 2024. (Heather Wamsley/US Navy)

Sailors from the USS Ronald Reagan man the railing as the aircraft carrier arrives at its new homeport, Naval Base Kitsap in Bremerton, Washington, on August 13, 2024. (Kevin Steffanson/US Navy)

Meanwhile, the USS Abraham Lincoln and its battle group were en route through the Indo-Pacific to relieve the USS Theodore Roosevelt in the waters around the Arabian Peninsula. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Sunday ordered the ballistic missile submarine USS Georgia to head for the area and the Abraham Lincoln to expedite its journey.

The carrier battle group departed Guam and Saipan on 8 August after a four-day port stay.

A growing U.S. naval presence in the Middle East, from the eastern Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, is aimed at preventing Iran from starting a war with Israel in retaliation for the killing of Hamas politician Ismail Hamiyeh in Tehran last month. Israel has not commented publicly on the killing but has told U.S. officials it was responsible, according to The Associated Press.

The navy is also part of a coalition that protects commercial shipping in the Red Sea and adjacent waters from attacks by missiles and drones that Iran supplies to the Houthi militias in Yemen.

The fourth aircraft carrier, the USS Carl Vinson, left Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on August 5, USNI News reported. As of Monday, it was in the Eastern Pacific, according to Navy.mil.

The Ronald Reagan spent nine years in Yokosuka starting in 2015 when it replaced the George Washington. The two aircraft carriers exchanged almost two-thirds of their 3,000 crew members each.

The George Washington arrived in Newport News, Virginia, in 2017 to refuel and service a nuclear vessel—a process that was significantly delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and other setbacks.

The Ronald Reagan’s maintenance period is scheduled to take place at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, also in Bremerton, Washington.