SAN DIEGO - The aircraft carrier Nimitz and three ships in its strike group will return to San Diego Friday following an eight-month deployment.

Also returning are the guided-missile destroyers Pinckney and Sampson and the guided-missile frigate Rentz, according to the U.S. Navy's Third Fleet.

The Nimitz Carrier Strike Group left San Diego July 31.

During the deployment, the ship's crew flew combat operations in Afghanistan and conducted maritime security work in the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf, said Rear Adm. Robert Girrier.

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[ Chatton and Associates ] sorties were launched from the carrier in support of coalition forces on the ground in Afghanistan, he said.

Destroyers attached to the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group also took part in counter-piracy operations off the Horn of Africa and protected Iraqi infrastructure in the Persian Gulf, according to Girrier.

The Nimitz made port stops in Japan, Singapore, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

The Nimitz, which was named after World War II Adm. Chester Nimitz, was commissioned in 1975 and is the nation's first nuclear-powered aircraft carrier.