BREMERTON, Wash. -- The Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash., welcomed the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan for a year of maintenance work Tuesday.
The 1,100-foot-long carrier's home port has been changed administratively from San Diego to Bremerton so families can join the sailors during the extended stay.
Not all family members can come north but many have already arrived. The ship has a crew of about 2,500.
In what may have been a strange sight for ship watchers, the carrier was transporting several hundred cars instead of jets on the main flight deck. Those are the cars belonging to crew members and their families.
The Reagan maintenance is a $218 million job.
The carrier USS Nimitz will be wrapping up its own Bremerton maintenance stint in February and will then switch its home port to Everett, Wash.
