2004: USS Ronald Reagan Arrives In San Diego

USS Ronald Reagan arrives at its new homeport in San Diego in 2004, after a two-month transit from Norfolk, Virginia, in whose shipyards the USS Ronald Reagan had been constructed.

USS Ronald Reagan, a nuclear-powered supercarrier, is the most technologically-advanced aircraft carrier ever built. As an instrument of naval power, it is probably more valuable than entire fleets of mid-size naval powers such as Spain or Argentina.

USS Ronald Reagan is the first ship in the history of the U.S. Navy to be named for a former president still living at the time of the ship’s christening, an unprecedented honor.

If one enlarges the photograph, one may observe that sailors of the USS Ronald Reagan are manning the rails as the carrier arrives in San Diego harbor.

It must have been an inspiring, awe-inducing sight.