“…But The Sea Contains The Hottest Blood Of All, And The Wildest, The Most Urgent.”—D.H. Lawrence

An F/A-18 Super Hornet assigned to the Carrier Air Wing aboard the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman blew off the great ship’s flight-deck and into the Mediterranean Sea on Friday, 08 July. So says a statement subsequently released by the U.S Navy.

The mishap occurred as the Truman—CVN-75 and the eighth of the U.S. Navy’s Nimitz class aircraft carriers—was conducting a replenishment-at-sea. Shortly after the successful completion of the provisioning operation, the ship was hit by what Stars and Stripes, the American military newspaper, called “an unexpected brief period of intense winds and heavy rains”—which impelled the $80-million jet overboard.  

No one was aboard the F/A-18E (or F—the exact variant has yet to be disclosed) as it plummeted ignominiously into the drink. One sailor was otherwise injured in the squall but is reportedly in stable condition and anticipated to make a full recovery.

While Navy aircraft occasionally wind up in the sea during flight operations, instances of planes being blown or heaved overboard are exceedingly rare. Because Congressional appropriations committees take a dim view of multi-million-dollar Naval assets embarking on unscheduled, one-way sorties to the ocean-floor, forecasts of rough seas or heavy weather catalyze immediate and vigorous shipboard efforts to secure aircraft, tractors, carts, etc. to the flight-deck.

Rarity notwithstanding, airplanes and equipment are sometimes blown off-ship by the jet-blast of departing aircraft. Ergo, U.S. aircraft carriers are kitted-out with Jet Blast Deflectors (JBDs)—articulating sections of deck that are raised prior to catapult departures for purpose of deflecting dangerous jet blast over and around parked aircraft and flight-deck crewmembers.

In a 1995 instance of aircraft fratricide, an F-14 Tomcat was blown off the flight-deck of USS Independence (CV-62) by a departing Tomcat of the same squadron. The pilot and RIO of the jet-blasted F-14 successfully ejected and were hauled from the ocean by their shipmates.

A similar, 1970s incident saw another Tomcat plunge into the North Sea near Scotland’s Orkney Islands after the aircraft’s pilot lost control while taxiing. Concerned the Soviets might recover the F-14 and learn valuable secrets—about the Phoenix missile in particular—the U.S. Navy undertook recovery operation that raised the lost Tomcat two—albeit two months later

Whether or not the recently lost F/A-18 will be recovered remains to be determined. The sophistication of the Super Hornet’s radar, avionics, and armament, however, make recovery a safe bet.

FMI: www.navy.mil