Fire aboard USS Gerald R. Ford injures two; carrier remains operational in Red Sea
RED SEA — Two U.S. sailors sustained non-life-threatening injuries after a fire broke out Thursday aboard the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the U.S. Navy said, adding the ship remains fully mission capable as it continues operations in the Red Sea.
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In a statement, the Navy said the blaze started and was contained in the Ford’s main laundry facility and was not combat-related. The sailors were treated and are in stable condition. “There is no damage to the ship’s propulsion plant, and the aircraft carrier remains fully operational,” the statement said.
The incident marks the Ford’s second major setback at sea during an extended, high-tempo deployment. The Navy’s newest and most advanced aircraft carrier — a centerpiece of the Trump administration’s campaign against Iran — has also faced persistent plumbing problems during the cruise.
In February, the service acknowledged that the ship’s vacuum collection, holding and transfer system — which services roughly 650 toilets on board — had experienced maintenance issues. Those repairs, the Navy said then, would be addressed once the carrier returns to its homeport in Norfolk, Va.
The Ford and its accompanying destroyers have been at sea since June and are overdue for scheduled maintenance. The strike group’s itinerary has shifted repeatedly: initially sent to Europe, it was redirected to the Caribbean to support a counternarcotics push in waters around Latin America and the U.S. military raid that led to the capture of Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro.
Last month, as President Donald Trump intensified pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear program, the Pentagon extended the Ford’s deployment again and ordered the carrier back across the Atlantic to the Middle East. At the time, the strike group had already been at sea for nearly eight months.
Such extensions ripple through the fleet’s maintenance calendar. Carrier in-dock repair periods are tightly sequenced months in advance, meaning delays for the Ford push its own work back — and can force subsequent shifts for the ships slated to follow in the yards.
Despite Thursday’s fire, Navy officials stressed the Ford’s operational status and emphasized that no critical systems were affected. There was no immediate detail on the nature of the sailors’ injuries beyond the assurance that they were not life-threatening.
The Navy did not specify how long the Ford will remain on station in the Red Sea. The ship is likely to be relieved by the USS George H.W. Bush carrier strike group, which is completing its pre-deployment training workups, according to officials familiar with fleet planning.
The Ford is the lead ship of its class and incorporates new technologies intended to improve sortie generation and reduce crew workload. However, long, high-intensity deployments can tax even the newest platforms, and the Navy has said previously that corrective work for the Ford’s non-mission-critical systems would be prioritized once it returns to port.
The cause of Thursday’s laundry-room fire has not been released. The Navy said an investigation is underway.
By Ali Musa
Axadle Times international–Monitoring.
