Illustrative image. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Maxwell Orlosky)
The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier is leaving the Red Sea to undergo repairs in the U.S. A navy base on the Greek island of Crete after a fire last week required several hours of damage control efforts.
Ford will travel to Naval Support Activity Souda Bay for more than a week of pierside repairs, a senior U.S. official told USNI News on March 17.
The carrier and its strike group arrived in the Middle East last month as a part of the U.S. military buildup leading to the war on Iran. It was first deployed in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, before moving into the Red Sea.
Aboard the Ford is the Carrier Air Wing Eight (CVW-8) with more than 75 warplanes, including F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter jets, and EA-18G Growler electronic attack jets, in addition to a number of E-2D Hawkeye tactical airborne early warning aircraft.
U.S. officials who spoke to Reuters earlier revealed that nearly 200 sailors were treated for smoke-related injuries when the fire broke out in the ship’s main laundry area on March 12. The fire took hours to bring under control and had an impact on roughly 100 sleeping berths.
One service member was flown off the ship with injuries, the official told the news agency. This was also confirmed by the official who spoke to USNI.
The New York Times reported two sailors received treatment for “non-life-threatening injuries”, citing the US military’s Central Command. After the fire, the US Navy had said that there was no damage to the ship’s propulsion plant and the aircraft carrier was fully operational.
Prior to the fire, the carrier, crewed by more than 4,500 sailors and staff, reportedly suffered significant problems with its toilet system, with American media describing clogged systems and long lines for restrooms on the ship.
The issue is not new, however. A 2020 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office said the ship’s toilet system was subject to “unexpected and frequent clogging” and requires acid flushes on a regular basis to clear it, at a cost of $400,000 each time.
The U.S. Navy acknowledged the reports of toilet problems in a statement last month, but cited ship leadership as saying that “clog incidents are addressed promptly by trained damage control and engineering personnel, with minimal downtime”.
The carrier has been already at sea for well over nine months. The length of the deployment has raised questions about morale of the sailors on board and their readiness.
Senator Mark Warner, the vice-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, on March 17 sharply criticised the extended deployment of the ship.
“The Ford and its crew have been pushed to the brink after nearly a year at sea, and they have been paying the price for President Donald Trump’s reckless military decisions,” he said in a statement.
The latest fire has reportedly triggered a formal investigation into possible sabotage. Information cited by The International Business Times suggests officials are examining whether crew actions — intentional or negligent — played a role in the incident.
The withdrawal of the Ford will leave a significant gap in U.S. forces in the region, especially in the Red Sea in the face of the Iran-aligned Houthis (Ansar Allah) in Yemen.
It is very likely that the carrier was sent to the Red Sea to keep the Houthis at bay, and while the group has not yet joined the war alongside the Islamic Republic yet, this could happen at any moment.
With no carrier nearby — aside from the USS Abraham Lincoln currently launching strikes against Iran from the Arabian Sea —, the U.S. ability to respond to any attacks from Yemen will be extremely limited.
Iran has been so far very successful in controlling the Strait of Hormuz, and with Ford out of the picture for the time being, the Houthis could easily close Bab al-Mandab Strait, further scribbling the shipping sector in the region and rising energy prices around the globe.
Since the start of the American-Israeli war on Iran, Houthi leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi has repeatedly emphasized the group is ready to intervene, claiming their “hands are on the trigger.”
The group is likely coordinating closely with the Islamic Republic, and may be waiting for any further expansion of the war — like Gulf countries joining the U.S. and Israel — to strike.
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that must of been a krazy fire 🔥 that required several hours of damage control efforts. 😂
a 30 hour fire is completey ruled out on an aircraft carrier with a functioning fire-extinguishing system. more than 200 smoke inhalation injuries don’t happen with a working smoke extractor system. and last but not least: working toilets are essential for the safety of a ship, because long ways to the restroom can bind forces. summary: it seems like this carrier is a swimming wreck.
instead is absolutely possible
the laundry is the very place to start a self sabotage fire
ultra hot crammed with flammables
they had sabotaged the sewage before, they want out
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the jooz and their amerikunt whores are waging a terrorist campaign based on joo ai supplied by jokers like karp and thiel. it is time to repay them in their own coin. the whole world may go into the abyss because of a bronze age racist joo death cult.
8 bucks. 154 bucks.
cost of a gallon. cost of a barrel of oil in oman.
absolutely possible. a whole year at sea is a long time. or somebody just forgot his smartphone in his wet overall before sticking it into the dryer. battery fires are hard to fight.
a missile hit ‘swimming wreck’ that is
i heard they had, for the fist time in us naval history, “chilli con carne” for lunch that day … so everyone was basically a ticking time bomb :-)
fire in the laundry room. yeah right … that’s what they come up when fleeing after sustaining damage from an attack. but it’s ok. the us has always been a “paper tiger” and that is the exact level of “bs” one can expect from them.
the ford had a “fire” in the “laundry system” that took – 30 days – to bring under control. if you believe that one, i’ve got a bridge to sell you. meanwhile both the ford and the lincoln have had major toilet problems. it’s obvious that an elite highly trained irgc toilet squad has infiltrated both ships to wreak havoc on their poop decks. this is becoming an increasingly dirty war. a general issue of super absorbent diapers may be in the offing.
“super absorbent diapers may be in the offing.”
if they pay in shekels we are here.
i hear it was the iranians that actually struck it. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=a3qrcvuh_wm
…no, not the iranians! in the usa, aircraft carriers catch fire on their own, tanker planes fall from the sky alone and the ramstein air base is also in a state of emergency just for fun, any claim that there are a lot of victims of the war being cared for there is fictitious 🇺🇸 = 🤡 🖕😆🖕
you could get a job as a columnist on the wsj.
maybe they should have a used a honda instead of a ford. the don’t need to be fixed as much.
we’ve killed enough sandniggers for now…heheheh
then go back to censoring comments.
that’s like an alcoholic saying i’ve had enough drinks for now……..just not happening.
but we have just started. hehehebeh
us navy personal r already tired . they don’t want to die for israel in the sea leaving thier family in desperation. so it is a sabotage by some navy personal to take the sheep back home . but it’s good job by us navy personal who saved the lives of many ud soldier not dying for zionists
“we’d really, really, like to bomb iran, but the toilet’s not working. sorry.”
the ford is also low on munitions and needs to service what aircraft that they wish to redeploy to continue the doom that is now unleashed
will the us strip this carrier to to serve the serpent that is consuming it ?
the appetite of this serpent is endless in its need to create its destruction.