All personnel are accounted for with just one sailor aboard the Super Hornet jet sustaining a minor injury, the Navy said in a news release.
The jet was being towed out of the hangar bay when the incident took place.
"The F/A-18E was actively under tow in the hangar bay when the move crew lost control of the aircraft," the Navy said in the release. "The aircraft and tow tractor were lost overboard.
"Sailors towing the aircraft took immediate action to move clear of the aircraft before it fell overboard. An investigation is underway."
A defense official told USNI News the Super Hornet was being loaded onto the aircraft elevator on Truman when the strike fighter slid over the edge.
Since September, the USS Harry S. Truman has been deployed to help protect commercial ships against attacks by Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The ship was supposed to return last month to its home port in Norfolk, Va., but Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth extended its deployment and ordered another carrier -- the USS Carl Vinson -- to the region.
The F/A-18E is a single-seat jet that cost around $66 million in 2020.
On Feb. 12, the Truman was damaged in a collision with a merchant ship near the Suez Canal, which resulted in damage to the carrier. It went to Greece for repairs and the commanding officer was fired.
On the same day, two Navy pilots were rescued after they ejected from their E/A-18 G Growler fighter jet that crashed into San Diego Bay.
In October 2024, a U.S. Navy EA-18G Growler crashed east of Mount Rainier in Washington state with two onboard dead.
The strike group consists of the carrier, the nine squadrons of Carrier Air Wing 1, three guided-missile destroyers of Destroyer Squadron 28 and the Ticonderoga-class cruiser USS Gettysburg.
The Nimitz-class Truman, which is among 11 active carriers, was commissioned in 1998.
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