US Navy sailors were told to ‘clap like we’re at a strip club’ for Pence’s aircraft carrier visit

AP Photo/Steve Helber

• Before Vice President Mike Pence’s tour of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman on Tuesday, sailors were told to "clap like we’re at a strip club," a Navy spokesperson confirmed to CNN.
• During his visit, Pence contradicted senior defense officials, announcing that the Truman will not be sent into retirement two decades early.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Before Vice President Mike Pence arrived aboard the USS Harry S. Truman on Tuesday, US Navy sailors were instructed to "clap like we’re at a strip club" by the ship’s senior enlisted sailor.

The instructions were first reported by WTKR-TV’s Brendan Ponton and later confirmed by CNN.

"We can confirm that this statement was made by USS Harry S. Truman’s Command Master Chief to Truman’s Sailors, prior to the arrival of the Vice President," Lt. Cmdr. Laura Stegherr, the Truman’s public information officer told reporters, calling the remarks "inappropriate."

"This issue is being addressed by Truman’s leadership," she told CNN.

Pence toured the carrier and delivered a speech to the sailors on board — a speech that probably left a number of senior defense officials feeling a bit lost.

Read More: US Navy wants to get rid of an aircraft carrier to buy new weapons needed for a next-level fight with China

For weeks now, the Department of Defense and top Navy officers have been defending the decision to retire the Truman two decades early, a decision made to free up funds for investments in next-level weapons, such as artificial intelligence, unmanned systems, and directed-energy weapons, to make the US more competitive in this era of renewed great-power competition.

Pence, on the orders of President Donald Trump, completely upended that plan during his speech.

Read More: The Trump administration just sank the Pentagon’s controversial plan to mothball an aircraft carrier decades early

"I told [the president] about some of the discussion about possibly retiring the USS Truman. We talked about her record of success, and the president told me, ‘You go tell that crew that we’re not retiring the Truman,’" Pence said Tuesday, according to WTKR.

AP Photo/Steve Helber

"We are keeping the best carrier in the world in the fight. We are not retiring the Truman," the vice president said, The Virginia-Pilot reported. "The USS Harry S. Truman is going to be giving ’em hell for many more years to come," he added.

Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, who has worked to convince skeptical lawmakers that the decision to mothball the Truman is the right one, will testify before Congress again Wednesday.

NOW WATCH: How the US’s futuristic new aircraft carrier will change naval warfare forever

See Also:

• The Trump administration just sank the Pentagon’s controversial plan to mothball an aircraft carrier decades early
• Here are 8 weapons of war China showed off during its massive naval parade
• The US Navy just sent Russia a powerful message — with 2 aircraft carriers

SEE ALSO: China wants to turn its training aircraft carrier into a combat ship — here’s how it stacks up against US carriers

Source: Business Insider – rpickrell@businessinsider.com (Ryan Pickrell)