The sea has claimed another victim—this time, not in battle, but in an astonishing lapse of control aboard one of America’s most formidable warships.
On Monday, April 28, the USS Harry S. Truman, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier operating in the volatile waters of the Red Sea, suffered a staggering mishap when an F/A-18E Super Hornet, a frontline fighter jet valued at over $60 million, broke free from its handlers and plunged into the depths below.
According to the Navy, the aircraft was being towed inside the carrier’s hangar bay when the move crew lost control. The jet, along with its tow tractor, careened over the side, disappearing beneath the waves in a moment that raises urgent questions about the safety and readiness of our forces in a region already on a knife’s edge.
Miraculously, no lives were lost. The sailors towing the aircraft managed to scramble clear as the massive war machine slipped into the abyss. Only one minor injury was reported—a small mercy in what could have been a far deadlier catastrophe.
But the questions linger like the salt in the air.
How does a state-of-the-art fighter jet, under the watch of trained personnel, simply slide off the deck of a billion-dollar carrier? Was this a tragic fluke—or a symptom of deeper failures?
The Navy insists the Harry S. Truman remains “fully mission capable,” even as it launches an investigation.
Yet this is not the first incident to plague this vessel. Just months ago, another F/A-18 from the same carrier was mistakenly shot down by the USS Gettysburg, an escort cruiser in its own strike group. Before that, the Truman collided with a merchant ship near Egypt, forcing emergency repairs and the removal of its commanding officer.
And now, as Houthi rebels in Yemen unleash drones and missiles at American ships almost daily, the Truman was reportedly executing evasive maneuvers when the Super Hornet went overboard.
Was this a desperate dodge that cost the Navy one of its most advanced aircraft? Or was it, as some reports suggest, a simple—but—unforgivable error on the elevator transfer?
The Red Sea is no place for mistakes.
The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez, leading to the Suez Canal.
The Truman and its strike group have been locked in combat operations there since March, launching strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen.
Every second counts. Every piece of hardware is vital. And yet, in an instant, $60 million worth of American firepower now rests on the ocean floor, not downed by enemy fire, but by what appears to be human error.
The Navy will investigate. Reports will be filed. Lessons will be “learned.”
But as tensions escalate and the world watches, one thing is painfully clear: in the high-stakes theater of modern naval warfare, there is no room for accidents like this.
The sea does not forgive.
And neither should we.
The Navy suspended a five-day-long search Thursday for a missing sailor from the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group in Guam.
“The sailor has been listed as Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown after being reported unaccounted for Saturday morning while the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) was conducting a regularly scheduled port call at Naval Base Guam,” reads a Navy press release on the conclusion of the search.
Navy, Coast Guard and local authorities searched 11,000 nautical miles around Guam. Responding assets included Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 25, a P-8 maritime patrol aircraft Commander Task Force 72, USCGC Oliver Henry (WPC-1140), 45-foot long Response Boat-Mediums, and Guam Fire Rescue Teams.
The U.S. Navy identified the sailor who went missing in Guam as Information Systems Technician 2nd Class Gabriel D. Holt, who served aboard the aircraft carrier and has been listed as Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown.
Holt, a native of Washington, Utah, was last seen onshore in Guam at 11:57 p.m. on April 18, when the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group arrived in port, and the following day, the Navy, local authorities, and the U.S. Coast Guard, began a multi-day search for him.
In January, combat veteran and U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth—a member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee who served 23 years in the Reserve Forces—delivered an impassioned speech slamming U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for his lack of experience and qualifications.
Since he was confirmed to lead the Department of Defense, Hegseth shared secret operations plans for a military attack with the editor in chief of The Atlantic magazine, installed a makeup room in the Pentagon, and got caught sharing classified information in another unsecured group chat with his wife, brother and lawyer.
Hegseth used the Signal messaging app on his personal cellphone, detailing minute-by-minute classified information about airstrikes on Houthi targets in Yemen.
It happened at about the same time in March that Hegseth shared similar details with top White House officials in a different Signal chat group that accidentally included journalist Jeffrey Goldberg. That leak, hours before air strikes hit, could have endangered U.S. pilots if that information about the timing of strikes was intercepted by U.S. adversaries.
Already, the Houthis have twice shot down American Predator drones.
Rumors are circulating that Hegseth is about to be departing the Trump administration, but the White House keeps reasserting faith in the bumbling, incompetent MAGA loyalist.