18,628 viewsMar 15, 2019, 10:21am
Plan To Retire USS Truman Early Makes No Sense, Which Is Why The Navy Doesn't Really Want To Do It
Loren Thompson
The 2020 budget season has barely begun, and the Navy has already run into fierce opposition on Capitol Hill over its plan to retire the USS Truman a quarter-century earlier than expected. Truman is one of the Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, operating 85 combat aircraft on a flight deck measuring over four square acres. Large-deck, nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are key enablers of U.S. maritime supremacy, so Navy support for retiring one before its time is a big surprise.
The first thing you need to know about this foolish move is that it wasn’t the Navy’s idea. Navy leaders will have to work hard to conceal their glee if Congress refuses to go along—just as it deep-sixed an Obama administration proposal to retire the USS George Washington prematurely in 2014. The Navy only recently stated that it needed a dozen large-deck carriers to support national strategy, and federal law (10 U.S.C. 8062) requires that it maintain a fleet of at least 11.
Plan To Retire USS Truman Early Makes No Sense, Which Is Why The Navy Doesn't Really Want To Do It
