USS Truman, with roughly 6,500 sailors aboard, left Hampton Roads Monday afternoon along with elements of the Carrier Wing 1, based at Naval Air Station Oceana.
Though the Navy is not saying specifically where they are headed first, the United States has kept a constant presence in the Red Sea and Eastern Mediterranean since war broke out in Gaza nearly a year ago. The Norfolk-based USS Eisenhower recently returned from the most active deployment since World War II, countering Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.
The experience shaped how USS Truman prepared for this deployment, said Rear Adm. Sean Bailey, commander of the strike group.
“So it hasn't necessarily changed how we focus our training,” Bailey said. “What it has done is it's given us some more increased capability against those threats as they emerge, to ensure that we're fully trained, fully ready wherever we may go.”
The U.S. has been part of Operation Prosperity Guardian, which is an attempt to protect international shipping against missile and drone attacks from Houthi fighters in Yemen.
During Ike's deployment to the Red Sea, Captain Chris “Chowdah” Hill became a fixture on social media, updating families and at times countering disinformation being put out by the Houthis, who falsely claimed to have hit the carrier on more than one occasion.
USS Truman Capt. Michael David "Dave" Snowden said he does not plan to be as active.
“You will hear from the ship on the daily, on our public social media pages,” Snowden said. “I don't have a big social media presence as an individual, but we post things about our sailors for the day, every day on our very public Facebook page.”
Before the ship set sail, Seaman Mason Baker of North Carolina was on the dock, saying goodbye to his mother and girlfriend. He is on his first deployment. Part of the security force, Baker has only been in the Navy for seven months, and has been on the carrier for less than a month.
“It's very large,” Baker said. “It's intimidating at first. It's a little difficult to get used to. There are still things, places and stuff that I don't know on the ship yet, that I'm still trying to figure out. It's a really big home for the next seven months.”
Other local elements of the carrier strike group include the Norfolk-based cruiser USS Gettysburg and destroyer USS Stout, which are expected to leave later in the week. The USS Truman last deployed to Europe after the start of the war in Ukraine in 2022 and then spent a year undergoing maintenance in Norfolk.
