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 November 29, 1993 and the ship was christened on September 7,1996. The official launching of the ship was on September 13, 1996. The crew moved aboard ship from contract housing in Newport News in January 1998. The ship successfully completed builder\'s trials on June 11, 1998 and acceptance sea trials on June 25,1998 before being commissioned on July 25,1998. 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 November 28, 2000 to May 23, 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 December 5, 2002, visiting Marseille, France, and Souda Bay, Crete, and then participated in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, stopping in Portsmouth, England, before returning home May 23, 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 October 13th (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 March 19, 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 September 1, 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 September 4th 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.
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.
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.
On November 5, 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. 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.
Trivia
- The Discovery Channel documentary "City of Steel" documents the construction, sea trials and commission of the USS Harry S. Truman.
- 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 USS Harry S. Truman was used in filming for the 2003 movie Tears of the Sun starring Bruce Willis.
- 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\'.
