TRUMAN WON'T DEPLOY AS GULF CARRIER FLEET IS CUT

WASHINGTON

Budget strains will force the Pentagon to cut its aircraft carrier presence in the Persian Gulf area from two carriers to one. As a result, the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman won't deploy from Norfolk on Friday as planned.

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta formally approved a plan to keep just one carrier in the region. There have been two aircraft carrier groups there for most of the last two years.

The Navy requested that the Truman deployment be delayed and the secretary approved it, George Little, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a news release.

The announcement is the biggest indication yet that looming defense cuts have affected the way the U.S. military operates – an effect that will only grow as the cuts materialize. It was a highly symbolic move with lots of practical consequences for Hampton Roads.

It affects more than 5,000 sailors assigned to the carrier, its air wing and the smaller ships that were to accompany it to the Gulf. Sailors routinely put their cars in storage, give up their apartments and sometimes move their families closer to loved ones while they’re gone. Carrier deployments now last around 8 months, meaning the crew likely planned to be gone until October.

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