The extended service of the world’s longest-serving carrier points to flaws in the US shipbuilding industry, observers say
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenAlcott Weiin BeijingPublished: 6:00pm, 20 Aug 2026The “glory days” of the world’s longest-serving aircraft carrier are over, reflecting fatigue in the broader US fleet amid a decline in the country’s shipbuilding capacity, according to official Chinese military analysts.In a report on Wednesday, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said the US Navy’s reliance on extended carrier deployments was a cause for concern, particularly in the case of the USS Nimitz.The Nimitz was commissioned in 1975, making it the world’s longest-serving aircraft carrier still in active service, and its retirement has been pushed back repeatedly.
“Judging from the series of accidents that have occurred, the Nimitz is already being kept operational with difficulty. The glory days of the Nimitz aircraft carrier are over,” Li Yaqiang, a former senior colonel in the Chinese navy and a military commentator, said in an interview with CCTV.
The carrier was originally scheduled to be retired in 2026, but the US Navy said its decommissioning had been postponed until March next year to align with the expected delivery of the second Ford-class carrier, the USS John F. Kennedy.
