The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) completed a replenishment-at-sea (RAS) with the fleet replenishment oiler USNS Patuxent (T-AO 201) and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60) 10 July.

Truman took on 530,000 gallons of fuel during the RAS.

RASs are how ships gets the fuel and supplies needed to endure long periods of time at sea, as well as provide for the more than 5,000 personnel aboard Truman.

“That’s supplies for all of our stores, the galley, vending machines, ammunition and JP5 fuel for our aircraft,” said Ensign Nick Treser, the assistant first lieutenant of Truman’s deck department. “It keeps us going and sustained throughout deployment.”

A RAS takes approximately 1-4 hours and requires teamwork and coordination between ships for Sailors to get the supplies they need to keep going strong.

“A RAS is usually when we stock up on supplies for our stores and cargo,” said Seaman Chelsa Hehl, a phone talker assigned to Truman during the RAS. “Over the course of my three years in the Navy, my favorite spot to be during a RAS is in the bridge because you can see everything happening.”

During the 2018 deployment, Truman conducted 48 RASs over the 8-month-long dynamic force employment period.

“We always have a minimum amount of fuel and supplies that we need to keep onboard at all times,” said Treser.

Truman is currently underway conducting composite training unit exercise (COMPTUEX) with the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group (HSTCSG).

COMPTUEX is an intensive, month-long exercise designed to fully integrate units of HSTCSG, while testing the strike group's ability as a whole to carry out sustained combat operations from the sea. Ships, squadrons and staffs will be tested across every core warfare area within their mission sets through a variety of simulated and live events, including air warfare, strait transits, and responses to surface and subsurface contacts and electronic attacks.

HSTCSG is scheduled to deploy later this year. Strike group elements participating in COMPTUEX include Truman and embarked Carrier Air Wing One; staffs from Carrier Strike Group 8 and Destroyer Squadron 28, Normandy; and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Ramage (DDG 61), USS Lassen (DDG 82), USS Forrest Sherman (DDG 98) and USS Farragut (DDG 99).

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