This is supposed to be a bad thing, I guess:
Surface escorts from the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group left their homeports today to kick off an overseas deployment.
Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75) did not.
After the carrier was sidelined at the end of August with a malfunction in the ship’s electrical distribution system, engineers continue to assess the problem. “The aircraft carrier’s repairs are progressing, and all efforts are being made to deploy the carrier and air wing as soon as possible,” according to a Navy statement to USNI News.
The timeline for diagnosing the problem and fixing it remains unclear.
In the meantime, the surface ships in the strike group are forming their own surface action group and deploying with neither the carrier nor the air wing.
Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Lassen (DDG-82) and USS Farragut (DDG-99) departed Mayport, Fla., today, and will be joined by Norfolk-based USS Forrest Sherman (DDG-98) and Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG-60) in the coming days.
Good. I assume an attack submarine is part of the SAG because it would normally be part of a carrier strike group. This deployment will be excellent practice for how to fight if the carrier is sunk or mission-killed.
Indeed, I think we should practice how to fight with a "kill web" without the carriers by design.
And while I'm at it, why not send the carrier air wing overseas to operate from a land base? Could the air wing support crew do their jobs on land with equipment that replaces what is built into the carrier? Truman is sidelined and not her air wing, right?
I'd rather practice a fighting SAG now with a carrier malfunction than have to learn during a war while leaving a burning hulk of a super carrier behind as the rest of the strike group continues the fight.
