The Navy is “pretty close to finishing the work” on repairs to the USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), with completion measured in “weeks, not months,” Naval Sea Systems Command Commander Vice Adm. Thomas Moore said Oct. 22.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill, Moore said some final inspections remain to determine the cause of electrical systems failures that forced the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier to delay a planned September deployment to Europe. USNI News first reported the malfunctions of the ship’s electrical distribution system in August.
“The work is going on, and I expect that we’ll know before the end of this month what the final date is” for deployment, Moore said.
Preliminary data collection appears to indicate that the cause of the electrical systems failures is not a class-wide issue, Moore noted. “I think we’ve got some more work to do there, but right now I would assess … that we’re going to get Truman fixed, back to sea pretty soon, and then we’ll work through the particulars of what exactly happened on Truman and why.”
The Navy had previously planned to retire the USS Truman as part of its fiscal year 2020 presidential budget request, by truncating the ship’s scheduled refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) and force it to retire within the late 2020s. However, the service bowed to pressure from Congress and Vice President Mike Pence announced in April that the Truman would not be retired, in a speech on the ship’s deck (Defense Daily, April 30).