In March 2012, "Nimitz" arrived at the new home port of Naval Station Everett in Washington state after more than a year of maintenance work in Bremerton, replacing sister carrier, "Abraham Lincoln". On 3 August 2012, "Nimitz" departed from Pearl Harbor after a two-day port call, arriving at NAS North Island on 9 August 2012 to begin Fleet Replacement Squadron carrier qualifications. On 6 October 2012, a Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft from squadron VMM-165 landed and refuelled on board "Nimitz". This operation was part of an evaluation of the feasibility of the MV-22 as a potential replacement for the C-2 Greyhound carrier onboard delivery (COD) cargo transport aircraft.