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Underway off the Virginia coast, the 3,000 men and women of the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman are training for an upcoming deployment. Forward, flight deck crews swiftly move fighter jets into position to be launched by powerful steam catapults. Aft, planes line up for a “trap†— an arrested landing. Lurching to a stop, the aircraft quickly taxi out of the way as another jet comes in right behind them.
In a few weeks, about 80 aircraft of Carrier Air Wing 3 will come aboard — along with nearly 3,000 more sailors from the air group. Truman will exercise some more, and the ship will be ready to begin its deployment.
But, their captain says, the ship is ready now.
“We’re ready to deploy. I could deploy this ship tomorrow,†Capt. James Gigliotti said on the carrier’s bridge Sept. 10. “Go back in [to port], get the air wing — we could leave fully ready to go.â€
As called for in the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Response Plan (FRP), the fleet now trains nearly constantly, ready to deploy sooner, stay out longer, and continue to be ready even after completing a standard six-month overseas deployment. A new twist, the “pulse†deployment, calls for ships to leave sooner than planned — and to plan to go even if it doesn’t happen.
When the Navy surged seven carriers to sea at once this summer, Truman pulsed for a nearly seven-week cruise, several months ahead of the time the ship was to begin a scheduled deployment. The carrier took part in a western Atlantic exercise, crossed the ocean and cruised as far as the central Mediterranean Sea, then headed west for another big international exercise in the eastern Atlantic near Morocco before returning to Norfolk, Va., in late July.
“We were probably gone [from home port] the same number of days,†Gigliotti said, downplaying the effects of steaming overseas rather than exercising closer to the U.S. “Now, we’re done, we’re underway, we’re ahead of schedule.â€
Before the summer of 2003, the Navy’s 12 aircraft carriers deployed on a relatively predictable cycle broken into three parts: a shipyard period; a training cycle that gradually ramped up over about six months; and a six-month overseas deployment. But the FRP means shipyard periods are shorter, training intensifies sooner, and when or how long a ship will deploy is far less defined.
“The biggest challenge is to maintain the readiness level not higher, but for a longer period of time,†Gigliotti said. “There’s no longer this opportunity to kind of let down for a while and say, well OK, we don’t need to maintain a certain level up to a date.â€
Explaining to their crews the need for unpredictability in the new deployment profile has been a challenge for commanders. “You use the war on terror as a legitimate — and it is — reason why we do FRP, because the war is going to be here for some time to come,†Gigliotti said, adding that terrorists “can’t set their watch anymore by us.â€
Crews are given a general time frame for a deployment, but there’s one significant fact the Navy can’t give them.
“The one thing that’s hard for all the sailors is, sailors want to know a dat†Gigliotti said. “And we can’t give them a date.â€
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=360595&C=america
In a few weeks, about 80 aircraft of Carrier Air Wing 3 will come aboard — along with nearly 3,000 more sailors from the air group. Truman will exercise some more, and the ship will be ready to begin its deployment.
But, their captain says, the ship is ready now.
“We’re ready to deploy. I could deploy this ship tomorrow,†Capt. James Gigliotti said on the carrier’s bridge Sept. 10. “Go back in [to port], get the air wing — we could leave fully ready to go.â€
As called for in the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Response Plan (FRP), the fleet now trains nearly constantly, ready to deploy sooner, stay out longer, and continue to be ready even after completing a standard six-month overseas deployment. A new twist, the “pulse†deployment, calls for ships to leave sooner than planned — and to plan to go even if it doesn’t happen.
When the Navy surged seven carriers to sea at once this summer, Truman pulsed for a nearly seven-week cruise, several months ahead of the time the ship was to begin a scheduled deployment. The carrier took part in a western Atlantic exercise, crossed the ocean and cruised as far as the central Mediterranean Sea, then headed west for another big international exercise in the eastern Atlantic near Morocco before returning to Norfolk, Va., in late July.
“We were probably gone [from home port] the same number of days,†Gigliotti said, downplaying the effects of steaming overseas rather than exercising closer to the U.S. “Now, we’re done, we’re underway, we’re ahead of schedule.â€
Before the summer of 2003, the Navy’s 12 aircraft carriers deployed on a relatively predictable cycle broken into three parts: a shipyard period; a training cycle that gradually ramped up over about six months; and a six-month overseas deployment. But the FRP means shipyard periods are shorter, training intensifies sooner, and when or how long a ship will deploy is far less defined.
“The biggest challenge is to maintain the readiness level not higher, but for a longer period of time,†Gigliotti said. “There’s no longer this opportunity to kind of let down for a while and say, well OK, we don’t need to maintain a certain level up to a date.â€
Explaining to their crews the need for unpredictability in the new deployment profile has been a challenge for commanders. “You use the war on terror as a legitimate — and it is — reason why we do FRP, because the war is going to be here for some time to come,†Gigliotti said, adding that terrorists “can’t set their watch anymore by us.â€
Crews are given a general time frame for a deployment, but there’s one significant fact the Navy can’t give them.
“The one thing that’s hard for all the sailors is, sailors want to know a dat†Gigliotti said. “And we can’t give them a date.â€
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=360595&C=america