| An American aircraft carrier
which had a central role in the Iraq conflict sailed from
Spithead this morning after a brief visit to Portsmouth.
The nuclear-powered USS Harry S. Truman (CVN75) left her
home port of Norfolk, Virginia at the beginning of December
2002 for a six-month deployment, the second since the ship
commissioned in 1998.
Accompanying her was the Truman Battle Group, which included
the guided missile cruiser USS San Jacinto, destroyers USS
Briscoe and USS Deyo, the guided missile destroyers USS Oscar
Austin, USS Mitscher, USS Donald Cook, the guided missile
frigate USS Hawes, and the oilers USNS Kanawha and USNS Mount
Baker.
Her massive flight deck is the ocean-going airfield for Carrier
Wing Three, which comprises Fighter Squadron 32, Strike Fighter
Squadron 37, Strike Fighter Squadron 105, Marine Fighter Attack
Squadron 115, Tactical Electronic Attack Squadron 130, Carrier
Airborne Early Warning Squadron 126, Sea Control Squadron
22, Helicopter Anti Submarine Squadron 7 and Fleet Logistics
Support Detachment 40.
The carrier’s last landfall was at Koper in Slovenia
on February 6, after which the ship and her air wing were
at sea continuously until she arrived off Stokes Bay in Gosport
on May 6, exactly three months later – at 102,000 tons
fully loaded, the carrier is to big to negotiate the entrance
to Portsmouth Harbour.
The Harry S. Truman first launched strikes against Iraq on
the night of March 21, and was integral to the Coalition war
effort until she was released from combat operations on April
18.
In that time the ship’s air wing launched more than
2,000 sorties, involving more than 7,000 flight hours, delivered
more than 700 tons of ordnance and struck more than 900 targets.
The ship’s visit to Portsmouth saw many of her 5,000
sailors, aircrew and marines enjoy a run ashore before the
group heads back across the Atlantic; she is due back in Norfolk
at the end of the month.
The Harry S Truman is the eighth of a possible 11 Nimitz-class
ships, and the latest of the class to be operational.
Her air wing amounts to more than 70 aircraft. She is powered
by two nuclear reactors, which are expected to run the ship
for up to a million miles before they need to be refuelled,
and the engines can drive her at speeds in excess of 30 knots. |
