Carrier Strike Group 8, centered around the late-model Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) and with the Royal Norwegian frigate HNoMS Fridtjof Nansen attached, over the New Year conducted a series of joint military exercises with the Greek Navy– including the German-built Type 214 submarine Katsonis (S-123)–– and the Greek Air Force.
The latter included a few of its remaining F-4E-PI2000 Phantoms.
Truman, commissioned in July 1998, joined the fleet 12 years after the last carrier-borne F-4S squadron in the world (VF-202 “Superheats”) hung up their Phantoms so the event is a treat.
The Greeks ordered 50 brand-new F-4Es in the early 1970s– augmented by surplus Air National Guard and Luftwaffe aircraft– and still has 33 of them, upgraded in Germany a few years back, with No. 338 and 339 Squadrons.
The vintage aircraft are set to retire once Greece fields their new F-35s and Rafales.
As part of the exercise, Katsonis was able to get an epic periscope shot of HST, reinforcing how valuable friendly SSKs can be in tight seaspace.
