page_title: USS George H.W. Bush
section_title: Maiden deployment
hierarchical_section_title: USS George H.W. Bush / History / Maiden deployment
caption_attribution_description: ATLANTIC OCEAN (February 17, 2011) The aircraft carriers USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75), front, and USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) conduct an ordnance transfer. George H.W. Bush is conducting a joint task force exercise and Harry S. Truman has spent the last three weeks supporting fleet replacement squadron carrier qualifications for Naval Aviation Training Command and suitability testing for the E-2D Advanced Hawkeye. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Matthew D. Williams/Released)
context_page_description: USS George H.W. Bush is the tenth and final Nimitz-class supercarrier of the United States Navy. She is named for the 41st President of the United States and former Director of Central Intelligence George H. W. Bush, who was a naval aviator during World War II. The vessel's callsign is Avenger, after the TBM Avenger aircraft flown by then-Lieutenant George H.W. Bush in World War II. Construction began in 2003 at the Northrop Grumman Newport News shipyard's Dry Dock 12, the largest in the western hemisphere. She was completed in 2009 at a cost of $6.2 billion and her home port is Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia.
context_section_description: The ship was assigned to Carrier Strike Group Two for her first deployment. Under the command of Rear Admiral Nora Tyson, George H.W. Bush, Carrier Air Wing Eight and the four ships of her group departed on her first deployment on 15 May 2011. They sailed across the Atlantic to Britain to participate in Exercise Saxon Warrior, held in the Western Approaches and culminating in a so-called 'Thursday War'. She then moved towards Portsmouth, U.K on 27 May, anchoring adjacent to Stokes Bay through 31 May, because she was too large to enter the harbor, and the naval base did not have sufficient nuclear berths for the carrier to moor alongside. The carrier arrived at Naples, Italy on 10 June 2011.
  The carrier returned to Norfolk on 10 December 2011, following a seven-month deployment supporting operations with the U.S. Navy's 5th and 6th fleets.
caption: George H.W. Bush (top) conducts an ordnance transfer with Harry S Truman off the East Coast in 2011
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