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U.S. Navy attack: Did you know history's largest airstrike from a carrier happened this year?
The U.S. Navy has been party to some of history's largest maritime military operations — including, in modern times, World War II's Battle of Leyte Gulf and the Battle of Midway.
But the largest airstrike from an aircraft carrier in naval history belongs to 2025.
On Feb. 1, the USS Harry S. Truman and its strike group launched the 'largest airstrike in the history of the world' from an aircraft carrier during recent operations near Somalia, Stars and Stripes reported.
About 125,000 pounds of munitions were fired into the African country, U.S. Navy Adm. James Kilby, the acting chief of naval operations, said earlier this month while speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations' Robert B. McKeon Endowed Series on Military Strategy and Leadership.
Navy Times reported that the USS Harry S. Truman — a Nimitz class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier — launched 27 F/A-18 Super Hornets as part of a coordinated airstrike against Islamic State operatives in Somalia in collaboration with the federal government of Somalia.
The joint airstrikes targeted senior IS leadership in Somalia in a series of cave complexes approximately 50 miles southeast of Bosaso.
The command reported that 'approximately 14 ISIS-Somalia operatives were killed and no civilians were harmed.'
Among those killed was Ahmed Maeleninine, a key IS recruiter, financier, and external operations leader responsible for the deployment of jihadists into the United States and across Europe.
'Degrading ISIS and other terrorist organizations' ability to plot and conduct attacks that threaten the U.S. homeland, our partners, and civilians remains central to U.S. Africa Command's mission,' the report added.
Over the years, U.S. Navy airstrikes against IS militants in Somalia have been relatively rare compared with those against the al-Shabab group, the largest terrorist organization in the country. However, there are indications that IS in Somalia is expanding, according to Stars and Stripes.
Analysts estimate the IS ranks in Somalia at 1,000 members.
During a visit earlier this year to U.S. Africa Command headquarters, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the massive Somalia airstrikes were an example of commanders' now having more decision-making authority on such matters, Stars and Stripes reported.
'That's a reflection … of pushing authority down (and) untying the hands of warfighters,' Hegseth said. '(Such decisions) should be made at the four-star level or at the Secretary of Defense level more quickly based on the ability to degrade the enemy.'
Past large-scale U.S. airstrikes, like those conducted during Operation Desert Storm, involved multiple aircraft carriers and air wings, which would fly joint missions. But the Feb. 1 strike was unique in that it was conducted by a single air wing, according to Navy Times.
The USS Truman arrived in the Red Sea on Dec. 14, 2024, to provide combat support against Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who've conducted missile and drone strikes against shipping and military vessels in the region since November 2023.
While there, Carrier Air Wing 1, composed of eight embarked squadrons aboard the Truman, reportedly took part in operations striking over 1,100 targets. The strikes killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and multiple senior Houthi officials, Navy Times reported.
Beyond its sizable combat activities, the USS Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group's eight-month deployment, which is arriving home this week at various homeports, encountered several challenges.
In February, the Truman collided with a merchant ship in the Mediterranean Sea. The aircraft carrier suffered structural damage, and its commanding officer was relieved of duty, Virginia's WVEC-TV reported.
The strike group also saw the loss of three F/A-18 Super Hornets during this deployment. The first happened in December, when one of the fighter jets was shot down in a friendly fire incident. Both Naval aviators were able to eject from the jet and were recovered safely. One of them sustained minor injuries, according to U.S. Central Command.
On April 28, another F/A-18 fell into the Red Sea as it was being towed by a tow craft. Then, just over a week later, an F/A-18 was coming in for landing on the aircraft carrier when the Navy said a 'failed arrestment' occurred, leading to the fighter jet falling off the deck of the carrier and into the water, according to the WVEC-TV report.
Both pilots in the jet ejected safely and suffered minor injuries. No one on the flight deck was hurt.
The aircraft cost around $60 million each.
