Here's Why the Navy Is Deploying with a Bunch of Louisville Sluggers

It's not often sailors get permission to take a baseball bat to a multimillion-dollar aircraft carrier.

But when the Navy's aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman sailed into the Arctic Circle for the first time in nearly three decades, its crew was ordered to do just that.

The Truman sailed into the Arctic Circle on Oct. 19 to conduct operations in the Norwegian Sea. After years of operations in warmer climates, leaders had to think carefully about the gear they'd need to survive operations in the frigid conditions.

"We had to open a lot of old books to remind ourselves how to do operations up there," Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson said this week during the McAleese Defense Programs Conference, an annual program in Washington, D.C.

In one of those books was a tip for the Truman's crew from a savvy sailor who knew what it would take to combat ice buildup on the flattop.

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"[It said] 'Hey, when you get out to do this, when you head on out, don't forget to bring a bunch of baseball bats,'" Richardson said. "'There's nothing like bashing ice off struts and masts and bulkheads like a baseball bat, so bring a bunch of Louisville Sluggers.'

"And we did," the CNO said.

Operating in those conditions is likely to become more common. Rising temperatures are melting ice caps and opening sea lanes that weren't previously passable, Richardson said.

But it takes a different set of skill sets than today's generation is used to, he added.

"Getting proficiency in doing flight operations in heavy seas, in cold seas -- just operating on deck in that type of environment is a much different stress than doing flight operations on a deck that's 120 degrees in the Middle East," Richardson said. "You've got to recapture all these skills in heavy seas."

The Truman's push into the Arctic was part of an unpredictable deployment model it followed last year. For years, the Navy got good at taking troops and gear to the Middle East, hanging out there for as long as possible, and then coming home.

Now, Richardson said, there's a different set of criteria.

"We're going to be moving these maneuver elements much more flexibly," he said. "Perhaps unpredictably around the globe, so we're not going to be back and forth, back and forth."

The Truman sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar after leaving Norfolk, Virginia, last spring. The carrier stopped in the Eastern Mediterranean, where it carried out combat missions against the Islamic State group and trained with NATO allies.

About three months later, the carrier was back in its homeport before heading back out -- during which it made the stop in the Arctic Circle. The carrier strike group returned home in December.

-- Gina Harkins can be reached at gina.harkins@military.com. Follow her on Twitter @ginaaharkins.