Four days before the Navy turns another year older, an Annapolis native is second in command of its oldest aircraft carrier. Capt. Robert Anderson, a 2000 graduate of Broadneck High School, serves as executive officer of USS Nimitz, according to a hometown release from the Navy Office of Community Outreach.
Anderson credits his hometown for the start of it. “Growing up in Annapolis taught me the importance of community and working together to accomplish a goal,” he said in the release. “I was exposed to the midshipmen at the Naval Academy. I respected their professionalism and teamwork. I also developed a love for spending time out at sea.” The release does not say whether he attended the academy himself, and it does not list his earlier assignments.
What it does say is that he joined the Navy 22 years ago, a decision rooted in family. “I joined the Navy because I had a lot of family who served,” Anderson said. “I grew up around it. I saw the opportunities that it could offer me. I also had an interest in becoming a pilot and a desire to lead.” Anderson did not say in the release what he flew or where he served along the way.
On a carrier, the executive officer is the commanding officer’s second in command and the person who keeps the daily routine of the ship moving. A CBS News profile of another carrier’s executive officer described the job as running a floating city of 5,000 people. Anderson called landing the Nimitz post his proudest accomplishment. “I have a passion to help the sailors aboard this ship and push them to pursue their dreams,” he said. “The greatest reward is seeing those around me succeed and that is what keeps me going.”
The ship he helps run is a veteran. Nimitz was commissioned May 3, 1975, and, per reference figures that match the Navy’s description, measures 1,092 feet long and 252 feet wide and displaces more than 100,000 tons. The Navy says more than 5,000 sailors serve aboard, a figure that counts the embarked air wing; when the ship pulled back into port in July, the Navy put the number of sailors aboard at close to 3,000.
The release says the carrier operates out of Norfolk, Virginia, and that is a recent change. For decades Nimitz was a West Coast ship; it left Bremerton, Washington, on March 7 on what USNI News called its last cruise, a trip around South America with U.S. Southern Command. The Navy said the ship arrived at Naval Station Norfolk on July 9 and will be permanently homeported there, training the next generation of naval aviators. The release itself does not explain the move.
Nimitz is not expected to stay in service much longer. The Navy had planned to retire the ship this year, but the retirement was pushed into 2027 to line up with the arrival of the future USS John F. Kennedy and to keep the fleet at the 11 carriers Congress requires. USNI News reported that, under the Navy’s shipbuilding plan, the carrier would be deactivated in March 2027 and dismantled in 2030. The Navy’s July homecoming announcement made no mention of an inactivation date. Put together, Anderson’s tour is likely to be one of the last at the helm of the Navy’s oldest flattop, though the release does not say when he took the job or how long he expects to serve in it, and the Chronicle did not find a Navy announcement of the change.
The timing of the release is tidy. Congress created the Continental Navy on Oct. 13, 1775, a date the White House marked last fall as the Navy’s 250th anniversary, which makes Tuesday’s birthday the 251st. This year the release ties the service’s story to the nation’s 250th year of independence, repeating the Navy talking point that 90 percent of global commerce moves by sea and that internet access depends on undersea fiber-optic cables, so the country’s prosperity is linked to recruiting and keeping talented people.
Anderson closed with the family that shares the work. “Serving in the Navy is the way I give back to the country,” he said. “It comes with the opportunities and excitement that I share with my family. I think for me it’s more about the shared experiences that we get to enjoy as a family. My wife is also active duty. We have traveled the world together. Getting to pass on the love for travel to the next generation is rewarding.” He thanked his parents “for raising me with the values that have allowed me continued success,” and his wife and son “for always being on my team and working through the challenges that the Navy gives me, while also keeping the journey fun and exciting.”
Anderson is one of several Annapolis-area sailors the Chronicle has profiled, among them an Annapolis native leading Navy Triton missions and one flying with the Blackjacks, and a midshipman eyeing a pilot role after the academy. A sibling profile this week, an Upper Marlboro sailor aboard a Norfolk-based destroyer, comes from the same Navy outreach program.
