Life on the Eisenhower
USA TODAY joins USS Eisenhower as carrier prepares for war
USA TODAY videographers and a reporter from the Pensacola News Journal visited the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower as it joined the international fight to contain the Islamic State in 2016. It’s the first time a major news organization has told a story using 360-degree video and virtual reality technology on a large scale. For more on the experience, go to 8A and visit usatoday.com.
In the middle of deployment training off the Atlantic Coast, the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower prepared for a missile strike. “All hands man battle stations,” commanders instructed over the ship’s communication system as alarms blared. “Missiles inbound, brace for shot.”
Hours later, the Eisenhower’s executive officer signaled the end of the night exercise. Robert Aguilar wasn’t happy.
“This is no time for smoking and joking,” he told the crew. “We are getting ourselves ready for the war that we are headed into.”
That was in April 2016. The Eisenhower deployed two months later to the eastern Mediterranean, where it joined the international fight to contain the Islamic State, also known as ISIS, and served as a deterrent to threats in the volatile region.
USA TODAY videographers and a reporter from the Pensacola
News Journal visited the nuclearpowered aircraft carrier to create a virtual reality model of the Eisenhower. The project is the first time a major news organization has told a story using 360-degree video and virtual reality technology on such a large scale.
The training in 2016 was the first time that Carrier Strike Group 10 — the Eisenhower, three destroyers, two guided-missile cruisers and a support ship — came together to prepare for war.
The Eisenhower relieved the USS Harry S. Truman in the eastern Mediterranean. It was the first time U.S. aircraft carriers deployed to the region since 2003.
The deployment included close encounters with Russian ships and aircraft — something not faced by carrier strike groups in previous post-Cold War deployments to the eastern Mediterranean.
The Eisenhower had encounters with Iranian vessels and faced threats from unmanned drones, said Paul Spedero Jr., the Eisenhower’s captain and a graduate of the Navy’s elite TOPGUN fighter weapons school. The training was crucial in preparing for the challenges, Spedero said.
Early in the training, eight sailors were seriously injured when an arresting wire snapped on the flight deck.
It was a reminder of how quickly things can go bad during rounds of rapid-fire landings and takeoffs involving dozens of fighter jets.
Landing on the floating and moving carrier deck at night is the most difficult skill for a naval aviator to conquer.
In the Air Control Center, Ensign Blake Hoyt watched his radar screen showing 16 aircraft circling the carrier in a holding pattern that extended 21 miles around the ship during night operations training.
“As soon as the last one takes off, we want the first one to land. We rack ’ em and stack ’ em,” he said.
Others in the control room continuously updated Hoyt on the status of different jets, to ensure maximum efficiency. “Five minutes, sir.” Then: “One minute, sir. In position, on time.”
Hoyt was pleased with the progress.
“We are steady shooting them tonight. We are shooting them fast,” he said.
Heading into the deployment, Rear Adm. Jesse Wilson Jr., the strike group’s commander, said the purpose of the intensive training — the largest such training exercise in recent U.S. Navy history — was to prepare his sailors for the unexpected.
“We don’t focus on fighting what happened last year or what happened during the last war, we have to be looking forward,” he said.
“This is no time for smoking and joking. We are getting ourselves ready for the war that we are headed into.” Robert Aguilar, USS Eisenhower executive officer