Ship Swap

The Navy has switched the deployment schedules of the aircraft carriers Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) and Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), with the Truman now going before the Eisenhower, the service announced Oct. 6.

As U.S. Fleet Forces implements its Optimized-Fleet Response Plan, the service determined changing Truman and Eisenhower's schedules would better enable the Navy to provide ready forces. Inside the Navy reported in January about the service's Optimized-Fleet Response Plan.

"O-FRP offers more stability and predictability for Sailors and families by aligning carrier strike group assets to a 36-month training in the deployment cycle," an Oct. 6 service statement reads.

The Navy has been working to get the right numbers and people for sea-centric manning, which U.S. Fleet Forces Commander Adm. William Gortney in January called "the long pole in the tent" and ensuring the service has the resources and industrial base needed for the stable maintenance and modernization piece of the optimized plan. As ITN reported at the time:

Gortney expects that every carrier strike group in the Navy should be executing the O-FRP within three years.

"I would say -- within the next three years, because we're doing it strike group by strike group, by the next three years, every strike group would be in their or starting their optimized FRP," he told reporters last week. "They'd be entering the maintenance phase of their FRP. So probably within four to five years, we would have the carrier and all of the cruisers and destroyers executing the optimized FRP."

Gortney cited a number of reasons for why the cycle got off track in the first place, speaking specifically to the FRP length, manning and maintenance issues as well as inefficiencies in the inspection and training processes.

Carrier Strike Group-10 staff members who previously embarked aboard Truman will now embark aboard Eisenhower. Conversely, CSG-8 staff members who previously embarked aboard Eisenhower will now embark aboard Truman, according to the Navy statement.

This schedule change does not affect any other ship, squadron or staff schedules, the Navy statement reads.