USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75)

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USS Harry S. Truman alongside oiler USNS John Lenthall (T-AO-189) in the Mediterranean Sea
USS Harry S Truman alongside MSC oiler USNS John Lenthall in the Mediterranean Sea
Career (US) United States Navy Ensign
Ordered: 30 June 1988
Laid down: 29 November 1993
Launched: 7 September 1996
Commissioned: 25 July 1998
Homeport: NS Norfolk, Virginia
Motto: The Buck Stops Here
Nickname: HST
Fate: Active in service as of 2008
General characteristics
Class and type: Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Displacement: Approximately 97,000 tons (88,000 metric tons) full load
Length: Overall: 1,092 ft (333 m)
Waterline: 1,040 ft (317 m)
Beam: Overall: 252 ft (76.8 m)
Waterline: 134 ft (40.8 m)
Draught: Maximum navigational: 37 ft (11.3 m)
Limit: 41 ft (12.5 m)
Propulsion: 2 × Westinghouse A4W nuclear reactors
4 × steam turbines
4 × shafts
260,000 shp (194 MW)
Speed: 30+ knots (56+ km/h)
Range: Essentially unlimited
Complement: Ship's company: 3,200
Air wing: 2,480
Sensors and
processing systems:		 AN/SPS-48E 3-D air search radar
AN/SPS-49(V)5 2-D air search radar
AN/SPQ-9B target acquisition radar
2 × AN/SPN-46 air traffic control radars
AN/SPN-43B air traffic control radar
AN/SPN-44 landing aid radars
4 × Mk 91 NSSM guidance systems
4 × Mk 95 radars
Electronic warfare
and decoys:		 SLQ-32A(V)4 Countermeasures suite
SLQ-25A Nixie torpedo countermeasures
Armament: 2 × Mk 57 Mod3 Sea Sparrow
2 × RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile
3 × Phalanx CIWS
Armour: Unknown
Aircraft carried: 90 fixed wing and helicopters

USS Harry S Truman (CVN-75) is the eighth Nimitz-class supercarrier of the United States Navy, named after the 33rd President of the United States, Harry S. Truman. The keel was laid by Newport News Shipbuilding on 29 November 1993 and the ship was christened on 7 September 1996. The official launching of the ship was on 13 September 1996. The crew moved aboard ship from contract housing in Newport News in January 1998. The ship successfully completed builder's trials on 11 June 1998 and acceptance sea trials on 25 June 1998 before being commissioned on 25 July 1998. The builder's trials and sea trials were delayed from the initial scheduling dates in May 1998 due to noise issues in one of the reactor closure heads during hydrostatic testing. HST was authorized as USS United States but her name was changed before the keel laying.

The keynote speaker of the commissioning ceremony was President Bill Clinton. Other notable attendees and speakers were: Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., who pushed to have the carrier named after the 33rd president; Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan; Captain Thomas Otterbein, the Truman's first commanding officer; Secretary of Defense William Cohen; and Secretary of the Navy John H. Dalton.

The ship is currently based at Norfolk, Virginia. The first deployment of Harry S Truman was in Operation Southern Watch, from 28 November 2000 to 23 May 2001. She then entered Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va., for her first Planned Incremental Availability (PIA). The carrier deployed again for Southern Watch on 5 December 2002, visiting Marseille, France, and Souda Bay, Crete, and then participated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, stopping in Portsmouth, England, before returning home 23 May 2003. Later that summer it "surged" in support of the Navy's Fleet Response Plan, deploying to the Mediterranean Sea, where she ported in Naples, Italy, and participated in Operation Majestic Eagle in the eastern Atlantic Ocean before returning home to enter Norfolk Naval Shipyard for her second PIA. The ship set out from Norfolk for the Persian Gulf on 13 October (the U.S. Navy's birthday) 2004, and visited Souda Bay, Crete, followed by Manama, Bahrain, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on two occasions and was relieved on 19 March 2005. Despite plans to cross the equator and visit South Africa, diplomatic issues caused her to push back through the Suez Canal and stop in Portsmouth, England, on the way home instead. In competition year 2004, she won the Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award, an honor given to the most battle-ready ship in the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. The ship also was awarded the Battle E award three consecutive years, from 2003 to 2005.

On 1 September 2005, in response to the disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Harry S. Truman set sail for the devastated U.S. Gulf Coast. Truman arrived in the Gulf of Mexico on 4 September and served as the flagship for the Naval task force, though in name only. While the ship's strike group (Carrier Strike Group 10) commander, Rear Adm. Joseph Kilkenny, was appointed deputy commander of Joint Task Force (JTF) Gulf Coast (also known as JTF Katrina & Rita), the ship remained anchored in the gulf and provided fresh desalinated water for the relief effort via helicopter. (The actual command hub for the JTF was Iwo Jima (LHD-7). Harry S. Truman returned to home port in October 2005 after five weeks of relief efforts.[citation needed]

Harry S. Truman entered the shipyards for a Docked Planned Incremental Availability in January of 2006. The ship received many system upgrades, and underwent preventative maintenance to repair minor weld defects originating from the initial construction of the reactor plants.[citation needed]

Harry S. Truman left Norfolk Naval Shipyard in December of 2006 to undergo its training cycle in preparation for surge capability beginning in April of 2007.[citation needed]

On 5 November 2007 the Harry S Truman left Norfolk for its seven month Persian Gulf deployment also stopping in the Mediterranean on the way home. The ship is know to have pulled into port in Dubai on two occasions and Rhodes,Greece as well followed by a stop in Marseille, France in May 2008.[citation needed] On returning to America in early June 2008 the HST first pulled into port in Mayport, Florida in order to welcome aboard family and friends for a three day Tiger Cruise. The HST returned home from deployment to Norfolk Naval Station on June 4th 2008.

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • There are two brass plaques in the entrances to the Reactor Rooms which list all personnel on watch in the Reactor Auxiliary Room (RAR) and Main Machinery Room (MMR) when #1 and #2 reactors first became "critical". One of the crew members is incorrectly listed as MM2 Pres Ilog, when that member was an MM3 for more than two years after that date.
  • There is a brass plaque in the tunnel off Hangar Bay #1 dedicated to the 3 Newport News Shipworkers who died during the building of the USS Harry Truman when a pump room filled with methane and hydrogen sulfide gases during a sewage leak on Saturday, July 12, 1997.
  • The construction cost was approximately $4.5 billion.
  • While underway, the ship even has its own daily newspaper, the "Give 'em Hell Herald," and its own weekly television newscast, "Synergy."
  • The ship's Morale, Welfare & Recreation (MWR) division collaborates with the public affairs office (PAO) to telecast bingo contests for the crew that award as much as $1,000 and several prizes.

In the Anime Neon Genesis Evangelion the USS Harry S. Truman is Named 'Over The Rainbow'.

[edit] External links

The ship anchors outside Portsmouth, England, while her crew enjoy a port visit.
The ship anchors outside Portsmouth, England, while her crew enjoy a port visit.
The Military Sealift Command combat stores ship USNS Spica cruises alongside Harry S. Truman during replenishment operations in the Mediterranean Sea on November 1, 2004.
The Military Sealift Command combat stores ship USNS Spica cruises alongside Harry S. Truman during replenishment operations in the Mediterranean Sea on November 1, 2004.
Harry S. Truman and the Italian aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi operate near each other in the Atlantic Ocean while participating in Majestic Eagle 2004, a multinational war exercise conducted off the coast of Morocco.
Harry S. Truman and the Italian aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi operate near each other in the Atlantic Ocean while participating in Majestic Eagle 2004, a multinational war exercise conducted off the coast of Morocco.

[edit] See also

Military of the United States Portal
v • d • e
Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
Nimitz subclass
Theodore Roosevelt subclass
Ronald Reagan subclass
List of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy