US aircraft carrier fleet set to shrink as Pentagon reportedly decides to retire USS Truman 2 decades early

US Navy/Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Scott Swofford

The aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and ships assigned to the Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group (HSTCSG) transit the Atlantic Ocean while conducting composite training unit exercise (COMPTUEX) on February 16, 2018.

• The Department of Defense has decided to mothball one of its aircraft carriers, the USS Harry S. Truman, two decades early, Breaking Defense reported Wednesday.
• The move, which could save the US Navy $30 billion over the course of 25 years, would reduce the size of the US Navy's carrier fleet to ten.
• Congress is expected to push back on plans to cancel the mid-life overhaul of the Truman and retire the carrier decades early.

The Pentagon reportedly plans to send one of its Nimitz-class aircraft carriers into early retirement, shrinking the carrier fleet to save billions of dollars.

The US military will scrap plans for a mid-life overhaul of one of its carriers, the Washington Post's David Ignatius reported Tuesday. The carrier is the USS Harry S. Truman, which was scheduled to have its nuclear reactor core refueled in 2024, Breaking Defense's Sydney Freedberg reported Wednesday.

The Truman, which entered service in 1998, was set to serve for half a century, as is the case with all of the Navy's nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. In 2024, the ship was to sail to Newport News shipyard for a Refueling & Complex Overhaul (RCOH) that was to be completed in 2028, Breaking Defense reported.

The plan to cancel the mid-life overhaul and retire this aircraft carrier, part of the soon-to-be-released 2020-2024 budget plan, would see the US carrier fleet shrink in size from 11 to ten in the next few years.

While the Post estimated $4 billion in total savings, Breaking Defense writes that the decision may result in as much as $30 billion in savings over 25 years. The Post reports this decision was a compromise to ensure that the Navy could purchase two new Ford-class aircraft carriers, as the service announced last month.

This is not the first time the US military has gone down this road, and there is a good chance that Congress sinks these plans.

During the Obama administration, the US military proposed retiring the USS George Washington, commissioned in 1992, to cut costs. To prevent a fight with Congress, the White House intervened, offering to provide additional funding.

Retired Navy Capt. Jerry Hendrix told Breaking Defense that the military may be using the Truman as a "bargaining chip" for a larger budget.

This new report comes as the debate intensifies about the value of aircraft carriers given the growing threat from Chinese standoff capabilities. While US carriers have long been symbols of American military might, some experts say that they are becoming increasingly vulnerable targets rather than strategic assets.

Read More: Aircraft carriers 'are the most survivable airfield' and they may soon be even harder to kill, top Navy admiral says

The Navy, however, views the situation very differently. "Rather than expressing the carrier as uniquely vulnerable, I would say it is the most survivable airfield within the field of fire," Chief of Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson said earlier this month.