The United States Ship Harry S. Truman And Carrier Air Wing 3 Return Home

We recently covered the United States' Ship (U.S.S.) Harry S. Truman's deployment to the Arabian Sea in the post "More Lies Damned Lies And Aircraft Carriers".

At that time the carrier had yet to return home and was in Greece.

She is home now.

Her air wing Carrier Air Wing (C.V.W) 3 returned to Naval Air Station Oceania Naval Station Norfolk Chambers Field on the 17th and 19th of December 2010.

The rest of the carrier group arrived at Norfolk Virginia on the 20th of December 2010.

In the 213 days she was deployed,U.S.S. Harry S. Truman generated 9,120 sorties,27,068 flight hours and 7,940 arrested carrier landings.

From these figures we can deduce that about 43 sorties were flown on an average day.

The average sortie lasted about 3 hours and about 87% of sorties were by fixed wing aircraft and the remaining 13% by helicopters.

Of particular interest is the size of the returning carrier wing:

"Beginning Saturday,the "Rawhides" from Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC) 40, Detachment 4,will arrive at Naval Station Norfolk Chambers Field on two C-2A Greyhound aircraft.

About 40 men and women, including flight crews and support personnel, are in the detachment.

On Sunday, the "Seahawks" from Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron (VAW) 126 will arrive at Chambers Field with four E-2C Hawkeye aircraft and 20 aviators.

Also on Sunday,the "Swordsmen" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 32, the "Bulls" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 37,and the "Gunslingers" of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 105 will return to Naval Air Station Oceana.

VFA 32 will return flying 12 F/A-18F "Super Hornets", VFA 37 will return flying 10 F/A-18C "Hornets," and VFA 105 will return flying 12 F/A-18E "Super Hornets.""

With 2 Greyhounds,4 Hawkeyes and 32 Hornets and Super Hornets,Harry S. Truman's air group is very similar to that of the Royal Navy's Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers which are expected to carry up to 36 F35C Lighting IIs and 4 E2D Hawkeyes (or equivalent).

More Lies Damned Lies And Aircraft Carriers

We have discussed in another thread how some members of the British Royal Air Force have difficulty distinguishing facts from fiction whenever the phrase "aircraft carrier" is mentioned.

Here we will consider further some more oft repeated "facts" about aircraft carrier operations.

Members of the junior service claim that the United State's Navy's aircraft carriers spend little time on station in the Northern Arabian Sea because they have to keep returning to port to replenish.

They further suggest that the carrier's contribution to the air war over Afghanistan is so insignificant that if they were not there,nobody would notice.

Let us see if these claims bear any relationship with reality.

The last American aircraft carrier to be relieved on station in the Arabian Sea was the United States Ship (U.S.S.) Harry S. Truman (C.V.N.75).

U.S.S.Harry S. Truman joined U.S.S. Dwight D. Eisenhower (C.V.N. 69) on station in the Northern Arabian Sea on the 26th of June 2010.

On the 29th of June 2010 U.S.S. Harry S. Truman flew her first combat sorties as part of Operation Enduring Freedom over Afghanistan.

Sustained by at sea replenishment,U.S.S. Harry S. Truman continued to fly combat sorties over Afghanistan for the next 36 days until the 4th of August 2010.

On the 5th of August 2010 the U.S.S. Harry S. Truman made port at Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates.

There,her crew were able to enjoy a brief period of rest and recreation for 3 days until the 8th of August 2010.

U.S.S. Harry S. Truman was back on station in the Northern Arabian Sea flying combat sorties over Afghanistan on the 9 th of August 2010.

She continued to fly combat sorties over Afghanistan,sustained only by under way replenishment,for 31 days until the 8th of September 2010.

On the 9th of September 2010,U.S.S. Harry S. Truman again put in to port at Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates.

There her crew again enjoyed 3 days rest before departing on the 12th of September 2010.

On the 13th of September 2010,U.S.S. Harry S. Truman was back on station in the Northern Arabian Sea conducting combat operations over Afghanistan.

These combat operations continued for 36 days until the 19th of October 2010,the carrier was replenished at sea throughout this period.

U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln arrived in the Northern Arabian Sea on the 17th of October 2010 and began flying combat sorties over Afghanistan on the 18th of October 2010.


Lincoln spent 72 days at sea before putting into Bahrain for 3 days of well earned rest from the 18th to the 21st of November 2010.

The U.S.S. Harry S.Truman then moved to the Arabian Gulf.

The U.S.S. Harry S.Truman's crew spent 4 days resting when the ship put in to Khalifa Bin Salman Port at Hidd in the Kingdom of Bahrain from the 28th of October 2010 until the 1st of November 2010.

For the 25 days from the 2nd of November 2010 to the 27th of November 2010 she was again flying combat sorties over Afghanistan supported by at sea replenishment.

The U.S.S. Harry S. Truman then left the operational area in the Northern Arabian Sea,entering the Red Sea on the 28th of November.


Between U.S.S Harry S.Truman flying her first combat sortie over Afghanistan on the 29th of June 2010 and flying her last on the 27th of November 2010 is a period of 151 days.


She spent just 10 days in port over this period and 141 days at sea sustained by replenishment vessels.


There was a United States Aircraft carrier flying sorties over Afghanistan for 145 of these 151 days.


There were 2 American aircraft carriers conducting flying operations for 37 of those 151 days.


The claim that American aircraft carriers spend little time on station in the Northern Arabian Sea because they must return to port to replenish is clearly not true.

The United States Navy tends to publish the number of sorties generated by it's aircraft carriers when those ships return home.

The U.S.S. Harry S Truman has not returned home yet,she is currently in Greece.

Consequently the number of sorties she flew over Afghanistan have not been released yet.

However,figures have been released for the first half of her time on station up to the 25th of September 2010:

"Since arriving in the 5th Fleet A.O.R. (Area Of Responsibility) June 29,aircraft assigned to C.V.W. 3 (Carrier Air Wing 3) completed more than 3,300 aircraft sorties and logged more than 10,200 flight hours,with more than 7,200 of those hours in support of coalition ground forces in Afghanistan."

Those figures cover a period of 88 days giving an average of  37.5 sorties and 116 hours flown per day including 82 flight hours flown in support of ground troops in Afghanistan.

During this period Britain's XIII Squadron of the Royal Air Force was operating in Afghanistan for the 90 days from the 19th of July 2010 to the 16th of October 2010.

They flew 1,850 hours during this period,an average of just under 21 hours a day and "a Tornado GR4 record for Operation Herrick".

The U.S.S. Harry S. Truman's aircraft flew 4 times as many hours of close air support in Afghanistan each day as the Royal Air Force Tornados of XIII Squadron managed.

Unfortunately figures for the total number of sorties flown by XIII Squadron in Afghanistan do not appear to have been released (weekly figures suggest about 5-6 sorties a day) but more detailed information about the squadron which preceded them is available.

Between the 14th of April 2010 and the 18th of July 2010,II (Army Co-operation) Squadron was operating in Afghanistan.

Over this period of 96 days they flew 515 sorties totalling 1680 flight hours,an average of just over 5 sorties per day and  17.5 flight hours a day (they dropped 5 Paveway IV bombs and fired a total of 4 Brimstone missiles over the 96 day period). 

These figures make an interesting comparison with the following extract from A Day In The Navy October 13th 2010: 

"USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) conducts a morning replenishment-at-sea with USNS Big Horn (T-AO 198) and USNS Sacagawea (T-AKE 2).

Elements assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 3 conduct 25 sorties (149.4 flight hours) in support of Operation Enduring Freedom."

Despite conducting an under way replenishment, on the 13th of October 2010 the U.S.S. Harry S. Truman flew 5 times as many combat sorties and more than 8 times as many flight hours over Afghanistan as the Royal Air Force II Squadron Tornados averaged per day and 7 times as many flight hours as XIII Squadron averaged per day.

The following figures cover November 2010,both the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and the U.S.S. Harry S.Truman were on station in the Northern Arabian Sea for most of this month:

"The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (CSG) flew 1,571 sorties for 4,001.5 hours of flight time supporting Operations Enduring Freedom and New Dawn;the Harry S. Truman CSG completed 480 combat sorties and 2863.3 flight hours in support of Operation Enduring Freedom."

In November 2010 the two American aircraft carriers between them averaged 68 sorties per day and 229 flight hours per day in support of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan,approximately 11 times as many as the Royal Air Force Tornados contibuted to operations in Afghanistan.

It is interesting to note that Royal Navy aircraft carriers have often generated higher sortie rates than American carriers on combat operations.

The new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers should easily be able to match or exceed the performance of the American carriers in Afghanistan.

The claim that American aircraft carrier's 

contribution to operations in Afghanistan is

 so small that if they were not there nobody

 would notice does not stand up to scrutiny.

The United States Navy delivers a large proportion of the combat air power in Afghanistan,typically generating about 25-30% of close air support sorties in the land locked country.

In contrast the Royal Air Force generates only about 5% of the combat sorties flown in Afghanistan each day.

If they were not there,would anyone notice?