Aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman to undergo $5.1B mid-life overhaul

The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman is slated to undergo a massive overhaul designed to prepare the hulking vessel for the second half of its service life.

The Pentagon on Tuesday announced a $5.1 billion fixed-ceiling incentive contract with HII to complete the carrier’s mid-life overhaul at Virginia’s Newport News Shipbuilding.

The refueling and complex overhaul, or RCOH, comprises approximately one-third of the maintenance and modernization a carrier will undergo during its service life, according to the announcement .

The RCOH process on Truman will “include refueling the ship’s reactors, as well as extensive modernization work in thousands of compartments and tanks, as well as on most ship systems,” a HII release stated. “In addition, major upgrades will be made in the propulsion plant and combat systems.”

Truman’s overhaul notice comes a little over a year after the carrier completed a 251-day deployment that saw the vessel fire over 1.1 million pounds of ordnance and unleash the largest carrier-launched airstrike in history .

Despite making combat history, the carrier’s deployment was also plagued by incidents that prompted an array of investigations.

In February 2025, the ship collided with the merchant vessel Besiktas-M near Port Said, Egypt. The ship’s commanding officer Capt. Dave Snowden was subsequently relieved due to a loss of confidence in his ability to command.

Truman also lost a trio of F/A-18 Super Hornets during the deployment. One was shot down by the guided-missile cruiser USS Gettysburg in a friendly-fire incident. Another experienced a failed arrested landing and went overboard. A third slipped off the hangar deck as a result of evasive maneuvers in response to an incoming ballistic missile and fell into the Red Sea.

Homeported at Naval Station Norfolk, Truman will be the eighth Nimitz-class carrier to complete its mid-life RCOH in Newport News.

“Our team has been diligently working to get ahead on this critical engineering and construction project that will prepare USS Harry S. Truman for the second half of her service life,” Bryan Caccavale, the Newport News Shipbuilding vice president of program management, said in a release. “When the ship arrives at NNS, we’ll apply that same diligence to working with our suppliers and Navy partners to ensure a successful recapitalization of CVN 75.”

The announcement did not specify when work on the carrier would begin, but noted that the overhaul is expected to be completed by November 2031.

The contract includes additional options that, if applied, could bump its total value to closer to $5.2 billion.

J.D. Simkins is Editor-in-Chief of Military Times and Defense News, and a Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War.

航空母舰“哈里·S·杜鲁门”号计划进行大规模大修，旨在为这艘庞大的舰艇服役生涯的后半段做好准备。

五角大楼周二宣布与HII签订一份价值51亿美元的固定上限激励合同，以完成该航母在弗吉尼亚州纽波特纽斯造船厂的中期大修。

根据公告，加油和大修（RCOH）约占航母在其服役期间所进行维护和现代化改造的三分之一。

HII发布的一份声明称，杜鲁门号航母的RCOH（反应堆大修）工程将“包括为舰艇反应堆更换燃料，以及对数千个舱室和储罐以及大多数舰艇系统进行广泛的现代化改造工作”。“此外，推进装置和作战系统也将进行重大升级。”

杜鲁门号航母的检修通知发布于该航母完成为期 251 天的部署一年多之后。在部署期间，该航母发射了超过 110 万磅的弹药，并发动了历史上规模最大的航母空袭。

尽管创造了战斗历史，但该航母的部署也受到一系列事件的困扰，引发了一系列调查。

2025年2月，该船在埃及塞得港附近与商船“贝西克塔斯-M”号相撞。随后，由于对其指挥能力失去信心，该船舰长戴夫·斯诺登被解除职务。

在部署期间，“杜鲁门”号航母还损失了三架F/A-18“超级大黄蜂”战斗机。其中一架在友军误击事件中被导弹巡洋舰“盖茨堡”号击落。另一架在一次拦阻着陆失败后落入海中。第三架在规避来袭弹道导弹时，因偏离航道滑落机库甲板，坠入红海。

杜鲁门号以诺福克海军基地为母港，将成为第八艘在纽波特纽斯完成中期大修的尼米兹级航母。

“我们的团队一直在努力推进这项关键的工程建设项目，该项目将使‘哈里·S·杜鲁门’号航空母舰为其服役生涯的后半程做好准备，”纽波特纽斯造船厂项目管理副总裁布莱恩·卡卡瓦莱在一份声明中表示。“当这艘军舰抵达纽波特纽斯造船厂后，我们将以同样的勤勉精神与供应商和海军合作伙伴紧密合作，确保CVN 75（航母编号CVN 75）的顺利完成现代化改造。”

公告并未具体说明航母何时开始改造，但指出预计改造将于 2031 年 11 月完成。

该合同包含一些附加选项，如果这些选项被执行，合同总价值可能会接近 52 亿美元。

JD Simkins 是《军事时报》和《防务新闻》的总编辑，也是参加过伊拉克战争的海军陆战队老兵。