According to the website of the U.S. Naval Association, on December 1, local time, the U.S. Navy's "Truman" aircraft carrier battle group departed from Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia and began overseas deployment missions. It was accompanied by the guided-missile cruiser San Jacinto and four Al-Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, including the Bainbridge. It is reported that the last time the "Truman" aircraft carrier carried out combat readiness missions was in December 2019, when it was deployed in the Middle East, and after the outbreak of the new crown epidemic, the "Truman" aircraft carrier was on duty off the east coast of the United States.
In July 2020, after the USS Truman finished its double pump deployment, it returned to Norfolk Naval Base for routine maintenance. After 10 months of maintenance, the USS Truman left the dock in May for pre-deployment testing and training. After the redeployment of the "Truman" aircraft carrier, where will it be sent to duty, the U.S. Navy official website did not disclose, analysts said that it is very likely to go to the Middle East, the U.S. Navy currently has no available aircraft carriers in this area, an amphibious assault ship instead of aircraft carriers on duty.
The U.S. Naval Association website said that after the "Truman" aircraft carrier is deployed, it will greatly alleviate the dilemma of the U.S. Navy's insufficient aircraft carrier strength at this stage. According to the U.S. Naval Aircraft Carrier Announcement Map published on the website of the U.S. Naval Association, at present, only one U.S. Navy aircraft carrier is deployed overseas in the world, that is, the "Carl-Vinson" aircraft carrier battle group operating in the Indo-Pacific Sea, and there is no U.S. Navy aircraft carrier in popular geopolitical regions such as the Middle East, the North Atlantic and Africa.
Some people wonder why the U.S. Navy, which has the largest number of aircraft carriers in the world, has not been enough. According to statistics, the current 11 aircraft carriers in active service of the US Navy, including 10 "Nimitz" class aircraft carriers plus a "Ford" class aircraft carrier, the remaining national navies of the aircraft carriers are not added up to more than the US Navy. There are two main reasons for the shortage of aircraft carriers in the U.S. Navy. The first reason is that the strategy of the U.S. Navy is different from that of other navies, and the U.S. Navy pursues a global strategy, that is, the U.S. Navy's aircraft carriers are involved in global affairs.
According to the U.S. Navy's plan, aircraft carriers will be deployed in key strategic areas so that after a crisis occurs in the corresponding area, the U.S. Navy can complete the troop projection as soon as possible. Because of the global strategy, the U.S. Navy needs more aircraft carriers. In contrast, the navies of other countries are mainly responsible for territorial sea security and homeland defense, and generally two or three aircraft carriers can basically meet actual needs. Countries such as China, the United Kingdom and India currently have only two aircraft carriers.
The second reason is related to the rotation system of the US Navy aircraft carrier, which adopts the "three three system" deployment principle, the state of the US Navy aircraft carrier is generally divided into three types of duty, training and maintenance, and the aircraft carrier in the deployment only accounts for one-third of all aircraft carriers, so the feeling to the outside world is that the US Navy aircraft carrier is not enough. In fact, if there is an outbreak of actual combat, the aircraft carriers in training can also be immediately deployed, and the aircraft carriers available to the US Navy will increase significantly in a short period of time.