The Navy’s fourth nuclear-powered carrier is named for the late congressman from the great State of Georgia. The keel for the “Starship Vinson” was laid on 11 October 1975, launched on 15 March 1980, and commissioned on 13 March 1982. Her home-port is Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, WA. She deployed late 1998 on a WestPac/Arabian Gulf cruise, and returned in May of 1999 to her home-port.