CNN
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A US Navy F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jet has been lost at sea after it fell overboard from the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier while it was being towed on board, the Navy said in a statement on Monday.
A US official said initial reports from the scene indicated the Truman made a hard turn to evade Houthi fire, which contributed to the fighter jet falling overboard. Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed on Monday to have launched a drone and missile attack on the aircraft carrier, which is in the Red Sea as part of the US military’s major operation against the Iran-backed group.
All personnel aboard are accounted for, and one sailor sustained a minor injury, the Navy said.
“The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft. The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard,” the statement said. “Sailors towing the aircraft took immediate action to move clear of the aircraft before it fell overboard. An investigation is underway.”
A second US official told CNN that the aircraft had sunk. An individual F/A-18 fighter jet costs more than $60 million, according to the Navy.
US Navy carriers – the world’s largest warships at nearly 1,100 feet long and with a displacement of almost 100,000 tons – are surprisingly maneuverable for their size.
Powered by two nuclear reactors driving four propeller shafts, Nimitz-class carriers like the Truman can reach speeds in excess of 34 mph.
The exact details of the turn the Truman made to avoid the Houthi fire have not been released, but photos and videos of the ship and other Nimitz-class carriers on the Defense Department’s website show the massive vessels 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.
The Truman Carrier Strike Group is deployed in the Middle East and was in the Red Sea at the time of the incident. The Navy emphasized on Monday that the strike group and its air wing “remain fully mission capable.”
The Truman 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.
Other US Navy ships in the region have also come under Houthi fire. In early 2024, a US destroyer in the Red Sea had to use its Phalanx Close-In Weapon System, its last line of defense to missile attacks, when a Houthi-fired cruise missile got as near as a mile away – and therefore seconds from impact.
The Houthi targeting of US warships in the region began after the US Navy stepped in to try to prevent the rebel group from hitting commercial ships heading for Israel in protest of its invasion of Gaza in October 2023.
In recent weeks, the Trump administration has stepped up airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen, prompting retaliatory threats against US warships by the rebel group.
“Yemen will not back down from continuing its support operations for the Palestinian people until the Israeli aggression on Gaza stops and the siege is lifted,” the Houthi-controlled armed forces in Yemen said in a statement earlier this month after US airstrikes on an oil port in western Yemen killed dozens of people.
The militant group said the US’ “aggression” against Yemen would “only lead to further targeting, engagement, and confrontation.”
The Houthis on Monday alleged a US airstrike hit a prison holding African migrants, killing dozens of people. The US military made no immediate comment.
This story has been updated with additional details.
