The Navy does its best to get troops home for the holidays when it can, but this display at Norfolk Naval base is still more the exception than the rule.
Nine "Flattops," five aircraft carriers, and four amphibious assault ships, are crammed together here at Norfolk among smaller ships and nuclear submarines from December 20, Navy photos. The nine flattops alone, number more than all eight battleships at Pearl Harbor in 1941.
This cohort of ships at Norfolk could all be together for the last time as sixty percent of U.S. ships head to the Pacific and the carrier USS Enterprise (third ship from left, third picture down) falls to decommissioning after 52 years of service.
Ships serving in the Pacific Fleet generally call the Naval Base in San Diego home, making it the largest Navy base on the West Coast.
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