Krista Blake waited patiently with her young son and mother at Naval Station Norfolk Sunday morning. This was her husband, Ceicil’s, first deployment.
“A lot of emotions, ups and downs, you know, crying,” she said.“I talked to him from time to time just to make sure he was okay. And it was just a lot for our first deployment. I didn’t think it would be like this.”
The 5,000 sailors from the aircraft carrier USS Truman returned home early Sunday afternoon after an eight month deployment that saw sustained combat. USS Truman dropped more than 1.1 million pounds of ordnance during its time in the Red Sea and North Africa.
In February, the carrier’s air wing struck targets inside Somalia, targeting ISIS leadership in the region. For roughly five months, the carrier stuck targets in Yemen while fending off drone and missile attacks from Houthi rebels.
Throughout the deployment, the ships were under constant fire from drones and missiles.
“It was certainly a long, challenging deployment across the board and pretty unique for my entire career as well,” said Adm. Sean Bailey, commander of the Truman strike group.
“So there's really nothing in comparison, because of the tempo of operations, because of the continuous combat that these warriors saw.”
The carrier also lost three fighter jets and collided with a freighter near Egypt in separate accidents.
All four incidents remain under investigation and reports are being compiled, Bailey said.
“Certain ones of those (reports) will, of course, be released in some format. But the main takeaway is we learn lessons. We are a learning organization, not only within the strike group, but within the Navy at large,” Bailey said.
After the Feb. 12 collision, Bailey fired Capt. Dave Snowden. He was replaced by the captain of USS Eisenhower, Capt. Chris “Chowdah” Hill.
Hill said the operational tempo actually increased from the time he was in the Red Sea with the Eisenhower in 2024. At the time, Navy leaders characterized that deployment as the most active engagement by the Navy since World War II because of the constant threat of attack.
“The crew operated on the front lines, thwarting numerous attacks and never gave up the fight,” Hill said. “This deployment, the warrior ethos demonstrated by the US Navy sailors in the Red Sea will not be forgotten by me or anybody else who witnessed it first hand — absolutely eye watering.”
Along with the Truman, the destroyer USS Stout also arrived early Sunday. Capt. Desmond Walker deployed at least seven times, but this was the first time he saw combat.
“We were exposed to various levels of complexity that stressed the ship that allowed us to build a higher level of toughness, that then enabled us to just perform as we were trained to do,” Walker said.
Carrier Air Wing 1 also arrived over the weekend, with its units returning to Naval Station Norfolk and Naval Air Station Oceana.
Prior to USS Truman’s arrival, families lined the dock and spilled out into surrounding land while the carrier slowly pulled into port Sunday. Many held signs marking the 251 days since the carrier left Norfolk.
Chief Petty Officer Ryan Edwards was in the crowd waiting for his wife, Chief Petty Officer Keyonna Edwards with their seven- and nine-year-old sons. Like most military families wrestling with long deployments, Edwards said he has a good support network of family.
“I'm active duty as well, so we pretty much had to rely on the village that we have here for assistance. But we made it. We made it through with everyone's help, and she supported as best she could while being gone. So that was always great,” Ryan said. “They are very excited to see her come back.”
