This U.S. Navy Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carrier Won't Be Retired After All

USS Harry S. Truman Won't Be Retired

"We have made a significant investment in these ships, and I am perplexed why anyone would consider taking the cornerstone of the United States naval force and allowing it to atrophy," said Rep. Rob Wittman, a Virginia Republican.

Lawmakers are lining up to reject the U.S. Navy's proposal to prematurely decommission, as a cost-saving measure, the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman.

The Navy likely anticipated the widespread opposition, observers pointed out, underscoring that the sailing branch apparently floated Truman's early retirement as a ploy to secure additional funding in the 2020 budget.

There is "zero" chance the House Armed Services Committee will approve the decommissioning, said Rep. Joe Courtney, a Connecticut Democrat and the chair of the HASC seapower subcommittee.

"The Truman is only about 25 years old, which in [terms of] an aircraft carrier is actually pretty young," Courtney said, according to Business Insider."I think in terms of it getting any endorsement in the seapower mark this year I think is zero," Courtney added, according to Defense News.

The Washington Post columnist David Ignatius on Feb. 26, 2019 first reported the proposed carrier cut. Breaking Defense a day later confirmed that the 21-year-old Truman is the ship in question.


The Navy previously had planned to keep Truman in service at least another 25 years. In an abrupt reversal, the Navy in its 2020 budget proposal reportedly will propose to cancel Truman's 2024 mid-life overhaul, effectively forcing the service to decommission the vessel once its nuclear reactor cores wear out some time in the 2020s.

Retiring Truman halfway through her planned service life would shrink the carrier fleet from 11 to 10 in the mid-2020s. The move could save the Navy $30 billion over a 25-year period, Breaking Defense estimated.


In December 2016, then-Navy secretary Ray Mabus announced a new force-structure goal for the U.S. fleet. Under Mabus's plan, the sailing branch would expand from around 280 front-line warships to 355, including 12 carriers, in order to better compete with the growing Chinese navy.

In February 2019 the Navy paid Virginia shipbuilder Huntington Ingalls $15 billion to begin work on the third and fourth new Ford-class carriers. This despite lingering problems with Ford's design.

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