After completing her requisite sea trials and commissioning (October 1977), the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower was assigned to the US Atlantic Fleet where she served through a year-long crew training exercise. The vessel was then sent on a tour of the Mediterranean in early 1979 before returning to American shores in July. The following year, she was placed on station in the Persian Gulf during the Iran Hostage Crisis where she replaced the USS Nimitz after the botched hostage rescue (Operation Eagle Claw). As the accident worsened already heightened tensions in the region, the Eisenhower was kept on station for eight months before being relieved by the USS Independence (CVA-62). The Eisenhower was relocated back to Mediterranean waters once more.
The crew of the USS Eisenhower then undertook a joint exercise with Egyptian forces through the Bright Star exercises of 1983. Following the practice operations, her aircraft were used to reconnoiter enemy artillery positions in Lebanon for the United Nations peacekeeping force stationed there. In October of 1985, she was sent back stateside for a scheduled overhaul which lasted over one year. During this period, the vessel was outfitted with the 20mm Phalanx close-in weapon system (CIWS) as well as Sea Sparrow surface-to-air missiles while her various defensive and communications suites were upgraded for modern threats and service. Her refit ended in 1987 to which she was brought back on station and, in the following year, sent back to the Mediterranean. Once again stateside in late 1988, she was made active in 1989 and sent in 1990 to the Mediterranean. She participated in D-Day celebrations off the coast of Normandy, France near Omaha Beach.
In 1990, Saddam Hussein sent his army - the fourth largest in the world at the time - to invade neighboring Kuwait and her vital supply of oil reserves. This forced a coalition of Western and Middle East nations to Kuwait's defense, prompting the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower to take position in the Red Sea. After the political route failed in uprooting Hussein's forces, military action ensued as the power of the coalition was brought to bear on the outmatched Iraqi Air Force and Army through Operation Desert Storm. The Iraqi force was utterly defeated and forced into retreat back across the Kuwait-Iraq border. While the war was over, tensions continued to exist, requiring a large US presence in the region. The Eisenhower thusly served in Persian Gulf waters beginning in September of 1991 before returning home to Norfolk Shipyard in April of 1992 for an overhaul. The overhaul lasted from January 1993 to October to which the vessel was placed into operational service in November.
Following the Gulf War, the Eisenhower participated in Operation Uphold Democracy off the coast of Haiti. The operation lasted from September of 1994 to March 1995 and saw the successful reinstatement of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The Eisenhower was on station only for one month of the operation before being called to the Persian Gulf in October of 1994 in support of Operation Southern Watch - enforcing the "No Fly Zone" over southern Iraq. The USS Dwight D. Eisenhower then underwent another overhaul beginning in July of 1995. The period lasted until January of 1997 to which she was sent out operationally in July 1998. This outing proved relatively short for the vessel was back in dock by December and ordered into another refit period until made ready for service for June the following year.
In early 2000, the Eisenhower was charged with enforcement of the southern No Fly Zone once again. A major overhaul began in 2001 that resulted in a vastly upgraded aircraft carrier. Her two nuclear reactors were replaced with all-new units to provide service for another 20 to 25 years. However, the vessel remained unavailable to the USN into 2005 to which the Eisenhower was then activated for operational service in late 2006. She then engaged in a tour of the Mediterranean before settling back in the Gulf where she conducted exercises off the coast of Iran following the capture of 15 British Navy personnel by the Iranian Navy. She was replaced in this role by the USS Nimitz in April of 2007. The British sailors were held for 13 days before being released by the Iranian government as a "gift to Britanl".
In February of 2009, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower was appointed flagship of Carrier Strike Group 8 in the Arabian Sea (the body of water located between Somalia and India, south of Oman and the Persian Gulf). From there, she supported operations stemming from the coalition effort against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan (Operation Enduring Freedom) following the events of 9/11 and the subsequent US-led invasion of Iraq (Operation Iraqi Freedom) begun in 2003. Additional service against Somali pirating activities was also given while on station in the region. In July of 2009, the Eisenhower returned stateside for refit.
In January of 2010, Eisenhower was called back as flagship in Middle East waters. This outing lasted until July to which the Eisenhower was called back home. In June of 2012, the Eisenhower was sent on her most recent deployment and it is expected that the Eisenhower will provide its services until around 2020 to which the new Gerald R. Ford-class of supercarriers will have entered service. The Gerald R. Ford-class is currently made up of two named vessels - the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) and the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) - and one yet-unnamed vessel - the CVN-80. The CVN-80 is the vessel designated to replace the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in service with the United States carrier fleet.
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