An F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet slipped off the hangar deck of the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, deployed in the Red Sea on Monday. The tow tractor that had been moving the aircraft also went over the side in the incident. Fortunately, only a single sailor suffered minor injuries. The aircraft, which, according to the Navy cost more than $60 million, is reported to have sunk. 

Sailors were towing the aircraft into place in the hangar bay of the carrier when the ship was reported to have made a hard turn in response to incoming Houthi fire.  The exact details of the turn the Truman made to avoid the Houthi fire have not been released, but the Nimitz-class carriers can take on a substantial list in a high-speed turn.

Carl Schuster, a former US Navy captain, told CNN that carriers trying to avoid a missile attack use a “zig-zag” tactic.

“You typically do a series of alternating 30- to 40-degree turns. Each takes about 30 seconds each way, but the turn starts sharply. It is like riding in a zig-zagging car,” Schuster said.

“The ship leans about 10 to 15 degrees into the turn, but it displaces the ship about 100 to 200 yards from any likely aim point,” if the ship is moving at maximum speed, he said.

Difficult Deployment for the USS Harry S. Truman

This has been a difficult deployment for the Truman. The carrier has repeatedly been targeted in attacks by the Houthis. It made headlines in February when it collided with a merchant ship near Egypt; no injuries were reported.

Another F/A-18 from the Truman was also “mistakenly fired” upon and shot down by the cruiser USS Gettysburg in the Red Sea in December; both pilots ejected safely.