By IANS
Chennai : The nuclear-powered warship USS Nimitz Thursday ended its controversial four-day India visit, as it moved out of India's territorial waters and headed for the gulf region.
Nimitz and its companion, the destroyer USS Pinckney left India's coast together at 10 a.m., a US consulate release said.
The aircraft carrier could soon be back in India again, Nimitz officer Rear Admiral John Terence Blake told mediapersons in an interaction before leaving the Chennai harbour.
"The US Navy is looking forward to partnering with the Indian Navy to work in the Indian Ocean again," Blake said.
The next joint Malabar Series of exercises will take place in the winter, he said.
"The US Navy is expected to work along with their Indian counterparts in ensuring maritime security," the warship's captain Michael C. Manazir said.
In an interaction with women journalists at his residence in New Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was asked in one breath about the USS Nimitz visit and the India-US civilian nuclear deal.
"There is no relationship between the two," he stated, adding: "Naval ships from Britain, China France have also visited our shores."
The ship's visit here was opposed by many political parties including the Left parties a well as citizens' groups that feared nuclear radiation from it.