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 The flight deck of the USS Harry S. Truman rumbles as a fighter
jet loaded with ordnance is catapulted into the sky, leaving
behind it a trail of white mist and officers in color-coded
jerseys racing back into position for the next aircraft.
"You've got to keep your head on the swivel," said Lieutenant
Melvin Gidden, one of the yellow-shirted catapult officers - or
shooters - who launch and recover the planes through an
elaborate sequence of hand signals.
"It's busy, it's jet exhaust blowing around, helicopter rotors
twisting and turning and all kinds of stuff that's going on."
A U.S. naval strike force led by the Truman began sorties
against Islamic State in Syria on Thursday, at the start of its
months-long deployment in the Mediterranean Sea.
At 1,096-feet (333-metres), it is almost as long as the Empire
State Building is tall – a city on the water for its
5,000-member crew.
But it is not like any other city. The 4.5-acre flight deck can
hold 90 aircraft, including F/A-18F Super Hornet striker jets.
Missiles are carried onto parked jets and sailors run on
treadmills in the hangar.
On the deck, just feet away from the aircraft, shooters crouch
to avoid being hit by a wing. Then there is the weather.
"Sometimes it's stressful because of the heat, sometimes it's
stressful because of the rain," Gidden said. "But we're out
there rain, sleet or snow. We've got to launch them all."
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Air operations go on for about 12 hours daily and, to maintain
rhythm, each pilot flies about once a day.
With such a hectic workplace, keeping spirits high is important -
from picking a film for the crew to watch to getting food with the
flavor of home on board.
Lieutenant Commander Riley Secrist, who handles food services, said
new requests included soy and almond milk.
"Also Italian chocolate is becoming a thing," he said.
In the galleys, where 18,500 meals are made every day, cooks
furiously prepare the day's menu, scribbled on a whiteboard: grilled
chicken barbecue, beef stir fry, veggie medley. Petty Officer First
Class Hocaly Pena, who has run a navy kitchen for 15 years, knows
well the importance of food.
"If somebody is upset and comes to the line and sees something that
they like, it cheers them up a little bit," he said. "It brings a
little bit of home out here."
(Editing by Alison Williams)
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