A Look At What Life Is Like Aboard The Aircraft Carrier USS Harry Truman

Daily Mail: On board the $4.5billion US carrier Harry S Truman which is as long as the Empire State Building, houses more than 5,000 people, and can launch two fighter jets every 40 seconds against the Islamic State

* US carrier Truman been supporting attacks on Islamic State targets in Syria under Operation Inherent Resolve
* Ships this size are designed to 'project American presence and power off any coast' according to the US navy
* Working together, the crew can fire off two planes every 40 seconds during daylight, or 60 seconds at night
* Crews work 12-hour shifts and the kitchen makes a whopping 17,000 meals every day to feed its residents

On the edge of a thunderstorm somewhere in the eastern Mediterranean, the $4.5billion US carrier Harry S. Truman rumbles as its fighters launch into the darkening sky.

With lightning bolts flashing in the distance,the nuclear-powered vessel - which weighs 97,000 tons - is waging a war thousands of miles away in Syria.

'It's a pleasure to see a year's worth of training in action,' Rear Admiral Gene Black, commander of the carrier strike group, notes from the ship's bridge as the deadly choreography unfolds on the flight deck below.

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Update: Dodging planes and a taste of home: life on a U.S. aircraft carrier (Reuters)

WNU Editor: 5,500 aboard a ship. 12 hour shifts. Constant activity. Definitely never a boring day aboard this ship .... and it should not be.