If you’re getting a sense of deja vu, I can explain it. It’s not a glitch in the Matrix, it’s merely what is normal whenever Donald Trump is in office. Remember back in 2017 when Sean Spicer announced that an aircraft carrier had been “lost?” And the press corps, jaws falling into their laps asked, “What do you mean ‘lost?’ How do you lose something the size of an aircraft carrier?” Well, you do it the same way that you lose a $60 million jet aircraft. Whiskey Pete is not having a good day, not a tall, a tall.
A US official said that initial reports from the scene indicated that the Truman made a hard turn to evade Houthi fire, which contributed to the fighter jet falling overboard. The Houthi rebel group claimed on Monday to have launched a drone and missile attack on the aircraft carrier, which is in the Red Sea as part of the US military’s major anti-Houthi operation.
All personnel are accounted for, and one sailor sustained a minor injury.
“The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard,” the statement said. “Sailors towing the aircraft took immediate action to move clear of the aircraft before it fell overboard. An investigation is underway.”
A second US official told CNN that the aircraft had sunk. An individual F/A-18 fighter jet costs more than $60 million, according to the Navy.
The Truman Carrier Strike Group is currently deployed in the Middle East and was in the Red Sea at the time of the incident. The Navy emphasized on Monday that the strike group and its air wing “remain fully mission capable.”
Mission capable in the age of Hegseth may mean a different thing from mission capable in a prior ages under previous SECDEFs. But you’ll be happy to know that he and Donald “had a talk” and Donald thinks Pete will get it together.
In their interview, The Atlantic’s Ashley Parker told Trump, “You’re a big supporter of Pete Hegseth’s, but he’s fired three top advisers in recent weeks, he rotated out his chief of staff, he installed a makeup studio at the Pentagon, he put attack plans in two different Signal chats, including one with his wife and personal attorney. Have you had a talk with him about getting things together?”
“Yeah, I have,” the Commander-in-Chief replied.
Asked, “What did you say?” Trump replied: “Pete’s gone through a hard time. I think he’s gonna get it together. I think he’s a smart guy. He is a talented guy. He’s got a lot of energy. He’s been beat up by this, very much so. But I had a talk with him, a positive talk, but I had a talk with him.”
And when asked if, “for now, you think Hegseth stays?” Trump replied: “Yeah, he’s safe.”
Critics were quick to weigh in.
“This is why I said @petehegseth’s rank incompetence needs closer scrutiny here,” wrote national security and civil liberties journalist Marcy Wheeler. “He keeps claiming his half-a—- campaign against the Houthis is having success. But s— like this keeps happening, planes dropping off aircraft carriers.”
“These are the sailors Whiskey Pete put at risk with his reckless treatment of classified information,” Wheeler added.
“Another win for this super competent national security team,” mocked U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT). “I thought our strikes in Yemen were ‘restoring deterrence’.”
Democratic political strategist Chris D. Jackson adds, “This is what happens when Trump and Pete Hegseth treated military leadership like a frat house. Unqualified leadership has real-world consequences.”
Barbara Starr, the former CNN national security reporter for more than two decades, strongly suggested there is more here than may appear.
“IMPORTANT: IF [the] Truman had to make a sudden hard turn to avoid enemy fire this is extremely significant. The goal for US troops is to always bring down the enemy as far away as possible NOT close in. And this potentially suggests further improvements in Houthi guidance and targeting. Def more to learn here.”
“Moreover,” Starr continued, “and equally important why does the military press statement not disclose this possibility?”
Probably because to do so is to disclose how vulnerable the country truly is. SignalGate was most probably the tip of the iceberg. In any event, it is not the norm for an F-18 to fall off an aircraft carrier, anymore than it was the norm for an aircraft carrier to go missing. But these are things that happen when Trump is in office and “his people” are running the show.
Damn! There goes a couple months of golfing income. Well…back to the links.
Word of the day.
Again.
Whoops!
I can’t wait to see if an old acquaintance weighs in on this on FB. He’s a bit older, a classmate of my oldest sister. Charlie became a Marine and Naval Aviator and he and his best friend were among those who wrote recommendations for me when I tried to get into OCS. He started off flying jets (A-4 Skyhawks but they were already on their way out. Instead of staying with jets he switched to helicopters and flew CH46 Sea Nights (those double rotor birds) and eventually the Osprey tilt-rotor before retiring from the Corps. He then started flying jets again as a Captain for United Airlines until his full retirement. Charlies not nearly so liberal as I am but he’s quite open to much the Democratic Party stands for and not afraid of pissing off people back in our hometown as he’ll criticize Trump in a heartbeat.
Losing a jet this way? I can just imagine his WHAT THE FUCK? reaction. I’ll keep you posted if he puts up something that’s particularly biting and funny about this.
“The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard.”
So, shouldn’t doorways to the sea have some kind of barrier in place to prevent things like planes, tow tractors, personnel, wrenches, etc. going out except when that’s what is intended? Who forgot to shut the door?
The Truman is in an active war zone and undergoing near continual ops. It’s one thing to be in the middle of the ocean ‘in transit” over a long distance from one point to another when everything can be “buttoned up” and/or “tied down” and in waters where you’re either attacking or can come under attack. Planes, weapons and other stuff are being moved about on both the main and hanger decks continually. That includes being able to use the elevators to transfer aircraft between the main and hanger decks, and for other things to. If you were ever to watch a re-supply operation you’d be amazed and yes, even in combat zones at-sea replenishment has to happen.
My point is that moving people, aircraft, bombs/weapons, fuel carts and other things is an intricate process even when not engaged in combat ops. It’s more like a deadly ballet in situations like the Truman is in right now. Yes, there are good reasons why there aren’t “edges” on the flight deck, the elevators and the open hangar bay doors. But despite NATOPS attempts to cover every conceivable possibility the plain fact is that sometimes freak shit happens. Sometimes sailors can adapt in the moment and sometimes they can’t. This falls into the can’t category and there will of course be an investigation. Maybe there was nothing those moving that f-18 could do to prevent it’s loss and maybe there was. Whether we’ll find out? No way of knowing at this point.
However, even during combat ops aircraft have to be serviced and maintained in addition to being launching, landing, being moved onto catapults or away from arresting wires during those operations, moved around for refueling, or to have bombs and other armements loaded and so on. Being the officer in charge of getting all those aircraft moved around on a carrier is a truly thankless job. And when the ship’s under constant threat that much more challenging.
I know you didn’t intend to be glib with your question but will say it lacks understanding of carriers or carrier operations. The lessons over time as naval aviation developed and the lessons learned are written in blood. So while if one doesn’t know much your question might be asked by many, but like I said there are reasons for EVERYTHING in both the design and operation of ships and yes, especially aircraft carriers. Including why there aren’t barriers on the edges of flight decks, elevators and hangar bay openings.
Points taken. I should have added an /s to the end of my comment.
This morning’s MSNBC take on the accident completely failed to mention the Truman’s maneuvering at the time, but did mention that the Houthies happily said that they had fired a missile at the Truman during their engagement.