This post has been updated to correct the hull number of USS Stockdale (DDG-106)
USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) completed a series of emergency repairs after a collision with a merchant ship and is now back underway in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Navy announced Monday.
Truman entered the emergent repair availability in Souda Bay, Greece, on Feb. 16, four days after the aircraft carrier collided with a merchant vessel near Port Said, Egypt, damaging a sponson to the rear of Truman’s aft starboard aircraft elevator and also piercing the hull above the waterline farther down the ship. Capt. Christopher “Chowdah” Hill, who previously commanded USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), is now leading Truman‘s crew after the Navy relieved the former commanding officer following the collision.
“Our ship remains operationally ready to complete deployment with mission and purpose on full display by the entire crew,” Hill said in the Navy news release. “We are out here launching and recovering aircraft, ready to ‘Give ‘em Hell’ with combat credible power.”
The emergent repair availability took five days, according to the release, and involved the Forward Deployed Regional Maintenance Center, Naval Norfolk Shipyard and Theodoropoulos Group, a local industry partner.
While Truman is operating in U.S. 6th Fleet, it’s unclear if the ship will soon head back to the Middle East. Truman was near the entrance to the Suez Canal, which would lead to the Red Sea, when the two ships collided.
The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group arrived in the Middle East in December, resuming the U.S.’s aircraft carrier presence in the Red Sea. Before the strike group arrived, four destroyers monitored the body of water and responded to Houthi attacks. One of those ships, USS Stockdale (DDG-106), arrived home to San Diego, Calif., on Feb. 21.
During Truman‘s first month in the Red Sea, the Houthis claimed to hit the ship multiple times, USNI News reported. The Houthis paused their attacks on ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden following a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. However, over the weekend, the Yemen-based group launched surface-to-air missiles at an American F-16, the first time the group used SAMs.
After 50 days in the Middle East, Truman and destroyer USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109) sailed to Souda Bay. USS The Sullivans (DDG-68), also assigned to the strike group, transited the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean Sea but did not make a port call. USS Stout (DDG-55) and USS Gettysburg (CG-64) remained in the Red Sea.
The collision was the second incident to befall the strike group. Shortly after it arrived in the Red Sea, Gettysburg‘s crew accidentally shot down an F/A-18F assigned to the carrier. Few details about how the friendly fire incident occurred are publicly available, with the Navy saying it remains under investigation.
