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Carrier USS Truman's Collision Damage Appears at Anniversary Rally

Truman
The banner at left covered over the damaged hull section (USN)

Published Oct 7, 2025 11:46 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

On Sunday, in celebration of the U.S. Navy's 250th anniversary, Naval Station Norfolk welcomed President Donald Trump for a rally and speech on the pier next to carrier USS Harry S. Truman. The supercarrier's massive hull provided a backdrop and a security screen for the event, but also a reminder of the ship's recent tour in the Mideast: significant damage on the starboard quarter remains unrepaired, and the punctured and torn steel had been covered with a banner for the occasion of the president's visit.

The hull damage stems from the Truman's collision with a merchant bulker off Port Said earlier this year. On the night of February 13, Truman was operating in traffic north of the port when she collided with the bulker Besiktas-M, a Handymax with a poor inspection record. The collision damaged Besiktas' forecastle and Truman's hull above the waterline. Aboard the carrier, the impact punctured a sponson, penetrating exterior bulkheads of two storage rooms and a maintenance space. The ship's watertight integrity, systems and reactors were unaffected; luckily, the Besiktas' point of impact missed the nearby aircraft elevator. 

The damage was temporarily patched in Souda Bay the following week, but full repairs would have to wait for the vessel's next period in shipyard. Truman continued on her mission to combat Houthi forces over Yemen, returning to Norfolk at last in June 2025. 

The damage to the starboard side was still not fully repaired when Truman returned to sea in August, nor when the ship was alongside for the president's speech last weekend. At some point, the crew or a shoreside maintenance team painted over the torn metal with haze gray paint to match the hull; no signs of rust were in evidence during the rally. 

Truman is due to go into a multi-year refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) period at HII Newport News soon, an ideal opportunity for significant hull repairs. The ship is now 27 years old, and her midlife refit was nearly canceled in 2019 during the first Trump administration. At the time, then-Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan proposed to retire her from service in 2024 and save $3.4 billion per year by avoiding the carrier's ongoing expenses. After opposition from Congress, Truman's RCOH period was put back in place.