Aircraft Carrier Truman Set To Deploy Next Week

The aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman is set to deploy with its strike group to the Persian Gulf next week for an eight- to nine-month cruise, the Navy said Wednesday.

The carrier strike group and its more than 6,000-man crew will depart Monday from Norfolk Naval Station, the Navy said.

The carrier was supposed to deploy in February, but severe budget cuts upended the fleet deployment schedule and the carrier’s departure was canceled just two days before it was to leave.

At the time, the Truman crew had spent months doing the workups and earning the certifications needed to deploy. They spent the past five months staying prepared, the strike group’s commander said.

“We’ve worked very hard over the last several months to maintain our combat readiness following the delay of our deployment in February due to sequestration,” Rear Adm. Kevin Sweeney said in a statement.

Since February, the Dwight D. Eisenhower has deployed and returned from the Gulf to Norfolk, while the Nimitz deployed from the west coast as the John C. Stennis came home. Because of the budget cuts, the Navy has scaled down its required presence in the Gulf from two carriers to one.

The Truman will be deploying with the destroyers Bulkeley and Mason, the guided missile cruisers Gettysburg and San Jacinto and 1st Combined Destroyer Squadron, a combined U.K. and U.S. staff.

Carrier Air Wing 3 – comprised of three Navy and one Marine strike fighter squadrons, an early warning squadron, electronic attack squadron and Navy and Marine helicopter squadrons – will also deploy as part of the strike group.