$70M Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet Falls Off USS Harry S. Truman Into the Red Sea

[RitcheyRch]

The U.S. Navy has confirmed that an F/A-18E Super Hornet — one of America’s premier fighter jets — fell off the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and sank into the Red Sea on Monday, April 28.

According to the official report, the $70 million aircraft from Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 136, along with the tow tractor moving it, plunged overboard while the carrier operated in one of the world’s most strategically important waterways.

Both personnel managed to jump clear in time, with only one sustaining a minor injury, according to officials.

$70M Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet Falls Off USS Harry S. Truman Into the Red Sea | The Gateway Pundit | by Jim Hᴏft

The U.S. Navy has confirmed that an F/A-18E Super Hornet — one of America’s premier fighter jets — fell off the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and sank into the Red Sea on Monday, April 28.

www.thegatewaypundit.com

 

[FlyByWire]

 

[CLdrinker]

Well someone is in for an ass chewing and a demotion.

 

[Flatsix66]

 

[clark]

Oh shit I hit the P for push instead of the P for pull, simply a PP mistake

 

[monkeyswrench]

Do you think they were backing it into a spot, or misjudged the turn?

This is prime for an RDPeep towing discussion.
"Wouldn't have happened with an F150"
"Needed a one ton."
Etc, etc...

 

[81Sprint]

 

[JB in so cal]

One report says the carrier was performing evasive maneuvers during a houthi attack.

 

[JUSTWANNARACE]

Well our taxes just went up

 

[monkeyswrench]

One report says the carrier was performing evasive maneuvers during a houthi attack.

I just read that too, possible evasive maneuvers while under attack. The one I read was saying it was being taken into the hanger bay. I guess it may have rolled off the elevator platform?

Better that it was an accident at sea, and not a downed fighter and possible POW.

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

They still need to recover the plane. Don't need a foreign government fishing it out and learning a bunch of stuff.

 

[mash on it]

Boat flying
Planes sinking.
What's next?

Dan'l

 

[monkeyswrench]

Boat flying
Planes sinking.
What's next?

Dan'l

All of the above!

 

[Wolskis]

Who's the member that worked the flight deck on a carrier.

 

[Riley1]

Who's the member that worked the flight deck on a carrier.

Probably more than 1. But I did 2 deployments on the Lincoln. My neighbor growing up was stationed on the Truman, and his job would’ve been moving planes.

There should’ve been someone attached to the squadron in the plane operating the brakes. Someone driving the tow tractor, someone directing the tow tractor, brake operator, and 2 guys at each main gear with chocks ready to go. I can’t imagine how this happened.

 

[coolchange]

 

[JL95]

I always have a hard time imagining 5000 service members on a carrier at once

 

[PlumLoco]

I always have a hard time believing an aircrcarrier can turn quickly enough to effect deck operations.
Surely they are trained to work in somewhat heavy swells, which would move the ship a whole lot more, yes?

 

[2Driver]

I always have a hard time imagining 5000 service members on a carrier at once

Tour the Midway in San Diego and check out the bunks. Not even enough room to roll over and you shift-share the bunk.

 

[JL95]

Tour the Midway in San Diego and check out the bunks. Not even enough room to roll over and you shift-share the bunk.

I have been a few years back. Never looked at the bunks lol

 

[coolchange]

Friend of mine has been at the con of the enterprise. Said time to stop is grossly misleading. Full reverse throws water over the flight deck.

 

[Wolskis]

Tour the Midway in San Diego and check out the bunks. Not even enough room to roll over and you shift-share the bunk.

Hot bunking might be a thing on subs but I did not see it on my destroyer back in the 80s

Any ex sub guys on here?

 

[2Driver]

Hot bunking might be a thing on subs but I did not see it on my destroyer back in the 80s

Any ex sub guys on here?

They mentioned it on the tour. IDK probably just for the enlisted guys. Whole place made me claustrophobic.

 

[NicPaus]

I would lose my mind on one of those carriers. After talking to several of the Guys on the Midway. One Guy mentioned not going up to the deck and seeing daylight for months at a time depending on your position. Claustrophobic is a understatement.

 

[Riley1]

I always have a hard time believing an aircrcarrier can turn quickly enough to effect deck operations.
Surely they are trained to work in somewhat heavy swells, which would move the ship a whole lot more, yes?

Notice there are no planes on the deck. I’d bet there are none in the hanger bay either. I think high speed maneuvers are during sea trial phase, not sure they ever do them again after knowing that it can.
I do know, that during rough seas, we had to double the chains on the plane to a total of 18 I think, and have heard of them breaking before.

 

[DarkHorseRacing]

Hot bunking might be a thing on subs but I did not see it on my destroyer back in the 80s

Any ex sub guys on here?

@Xring01 to the white courtesy phone please!

 

[Orange Juice]

Do you think they were backing it into a spot, or misjudged the turn?

This is prime for an RDPeep towing discussion.
"Wouldn't have happened with an F150"
"Needed a one ton."
Etc, etc...

It’s on video…I am sure

 

[CarolynandBob]

Who's the member that worked the flight deck on a carrier.

I did. 2 cruises on the shitty kitty. Never did high speed maneuvers, although we were only on the ship when our F-14 were on it.

Probably more than 1. But I did 2 deployments on the Lincoln. My neighbor growing up was stationed on the Truman, and his job would’ve been moving planes.

There should’ve been someone attached to the squadron in the plane operating the brakes. Someone driving the tow tractor, someone directing the tow tractor, brake operator, and 2 guys at each main gear with chocks ready to go. I can’t imagine how this happened.

This ^

Never hot bunking in my time on a carrier. As far as being on the cruise the guys that work in the lower levels (boiler, engine).
Those guys barely see sunshine. Us on the flight deck deal with the heat or cold.

 

[Wolskis]

We plane guarded the kitty numerous times.

 

[TPC]

Used to have 2 crewmen on one each side holding wheel chocks, the plane moved real slowly, if it gets to moving and taking over, then the wheel chocks.

 

[WYRD]

Hot bunking might be a thing on subs but I did not see it on my destroyer back in the 80s

Any ex sub guys on here?

Hot bunking sounds like something off the urban dictionary

 

[mothershipper]

What TPC and Riley1 quoted. I worked the flight deck of the Kitty Hawk for 4 years in the early 90’s. I was in VFA-97. Moving planes with a tug we’d have a yellow shirt in charge, a yellow shirt driving the tug, two blue shirts on either side with chocks, and a brown shirt in the cockpit riding brakes. A lot had to go wrong for this plane to go in the drink.

Carol and Bob, what years were you on the kitty? What did you do?

 

[havasuhusker]

I thought carriers had Scuppers around most of the deck to prevent this.

 

[Spitfire]

Thank you all for your service

 

[Flyinbowtie]

usni says it was in the hanger deck? The comments are interesting, and probably accurate...there is a price to be paid extending every cruise they go on.

https://news.usni.org/2025/04/28/super-hornet-assigned-to-uss-harry-s-truman-lost-at-sea

 

[4Waters]

Posted in the G&A

 

[4Waters]

Just like @mothershipper said, yellow, blue, brown

 

[stephenkatsea]

Not hot bunking but when I was given a tour of one of our nuclear subs, a boomer, there were mats on the deck between the missile silos. I was told when they had the max number of crew on board, some had to sleep on those mats.

 

[mothershipper]

I thought carriers had Scuppers around most of the deck to prevent this.

Failure of safety measures in succession when moving aircraft, i.e. plane captain (brown shirt) riding brakes not reacting instantly/ blue shirts not throwing chocks or missing at the attempt - the rails on the edge of the flight deck the scuppers are in ( they are not that high - 6" maybe) would not prevent the plane from going over if the plane had enough momentum built up. I've been on the carrier when they practice evasive maneuvers and although it's not sport boat quick, it is surprisingly agile for its size. Any number of things could have gone wrong for this to happen. I'm sure that those involved did not mean for this to happen. Working on a flight deck or even below in hanger deck is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. It was always beaten into our heads no matter how long or experienced you were working there to keep your head on a swivel. I was a final checker on the last deployment I did and saw some accidents/crashes that make this event pale in comparison. Google ramp strike 1994 USS Kitty Hawk F14. That's one of the scarier ones I saw happen.

It's good to know no one lost their lives in this, planes can be replaced - lives, not so much. Brown shirt is probably the one that got injured from jumping out of the plane.

 

[mothershipper]

Tour the Midway in San Diego and check out the bunks. Not even enough room to roll over and you shift-share the bunk.

Midway was built during the tail end of WW2. I had friends that were attached to the Coral Sea CV-43 (Midway's sister ship) and that did training detachments on the Lexington CVT-16. They hated going cause the ships were so old and cramped. Later carriers were not this way. Kind of sad to see all of these ships getting turned into razor blades. The Kennedy would've been the last one to possibly be a museum ship for all to see the difference of how the newer carriers were built vice the older ones. None of the nuke carriers will be saved most likely as they have to cut them open to remove and decommission the reactors. One of the reasons the Enterprise CV-65 has not been scrapped all the way yet is because it had 5 reactors.

 

[CarolynandBob]

What TPC and Riley1 quoted. I worked the flight deck of the Kitty Hawk for 4 years in the early 90’s. I was in VFA-97. Moving planes with a tug we’d have a yellow shirt in charge, a yellow shirt driving the tug, two blue shirts on either side with chocks, and a brown shirt in the cockpit riding brakes. A lot had to go wrong for this plane to go in the drink.

Carol and Bob, what years were you on the kitty? What did you do?

85 west pac 87 world cruise. Aviation Ordnance

 

[Riley1]

Lucky for the line shack guy (brown shirt) it was an F18. They keep the canopy up when moving. Had it been an E2 or C2 ( the plane I worked on), there would not be an easy way to jump out of the cockpit.

I like many went from brown to green to white. Both my brothers were ships company (nukes), and they called air wing guys “skittles“ because of all the different colors.

 

[mothershipper]

Lucky for the line shack guy (brown shirt) it was an F18. They keep the canopy up when moving. Had it been an E2 or C2 ( the plane I worked on), there would not be an easy way to jump out of the cockpit.

I like many went from brown to green to white. Both my brothers were ships company (nukes), and they called air wing guys “skittles“ because of all the different colors.

Same path as me through three different squadrons. Started with A-7s finished with Lot 8 F-18a's

 

[rrrr]

Kind of sad to see all of these ships getting turned into razor blades.

I worked with a guy that served on the Ticonderoga during Vietnam, he would joke it was sold to Gillette. It was commissioned in 1944, scrapped in 1973. My boss at the time was a retired MCPO, and those two were continually jawing at each other about brown shoes and black shoes.

It was pretty amusing.

 

[mothershipper]

I worked with a guy that served on the Ticonderoga during Vietnam, he would joke it was sold to Gillette. It was commissioned in 1944, scrapped in 1973. My boss at the time was a retired MCPO, and those two were continually jawing at each other about brown shoes and black shoes.

It was pretty amusing.

Used to do the same with the ships company people I knew

 

[havasuhusker]

Failure of safety measures in succession when moving aircraft, i.e. plane captain (brown shirt) riding brakes not reacting instantly/ blue shirts not throwing chocks or missing at the attempt - the rails on the edge of the flight deck the scuppers are in ( they are not that high - 6" maybe) would not prevent the plane from going over if the plane had enough momentum built up. I've been on the carrier when they practice evasive maneuvers and although it's not sport boat quick, it is surprisingly agile for its size. Any number of things could have gone wrong for this to happen. I'm sure that those involved did not mean for this to happen. Working on a flight deck or even below in hanger deck is one of the most dangerous jobs in the world. It was always beaten into our heads no matter how long or experienced you were working there to keep your head on a swivel. I was a final checker on the last deployment I did and saw some accidents/crashes that make this event pale in comparison. Google ramp strike 1994 USS Kitty Hawk F14. That's one of the scarier ones I saw happen.

It's good to know no one lost their lives in this, planes can be replaced - lives, not so much. Brown shirt is probably the one that got injured from jumping out of the plane.

Thanks for information. I can only imagine how crazy it can be on an active deck and like you said, thankfully nobody was hurt or worse.

 

[HCP3]

Third jet lost.

USS Harry S. Truman Loses Third F/A-18 Super Hornet

An F/A-18F Super Hornet from the USS Harry S. Truman crashed into the Red Sea, according to CNN sources. Both crew members ejected successfully, and were

theaviationist.com

 

[CLdrinker]

I think Sum Ting Wong is to blame.

 

[boatpi]

Thanks Motherhsipper for the history. My father was a gunner on USS Lexington in WW-2, battles in South Pacific.

 

[srttruck]

85 west pac 87 world cruise. Aviation Ordnance

Iyaoyas