The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier that has been part of the Iran war, has returned to a naval base in Crete.
The vessel, which took on food, fuel, and ammunition at Souda Bay in February, reported a laundry fire on March 12, which injured two crew members.
Earlier, as EurAsiuan Times reported, the USS Ford was preparing to leave the Red Sea to undergo repairs at the U.S. Navy base on Crete after a laundry fire, which took more than 30 hours for sailors to extinguish.
Meanwhile, according to reports in the US media, the US Navy is investigating whether the fire aboard the aircraft carrier might have been deliberately set by tired sailors.
If an intentional sabotage is proven, it will raise serious questions about the morale of the US sailors in the war. Notably, Ford’s deployment at sea has already been extended twice.
The USS Gerald R. Ford has been on a cruise since June last year, when it left its homeport in Norfolk for the Mediterranean.
It was later dispatched to the Caribbean last October by President Donald Trump when he was building US military forces near Venezuela.
USS Gerald R. Ford took part in Operation Absolute Resolve in the first week of January, along with USS Iwo Jima, which led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The USS Ford’s initial deployment was supposed to end by the last week of December. However, its redeployment to the Caribbean meant this timeline was missed. The ship’s crew was then expecting to come home by early March.
Now, the second extension meant that the crew could not have expected to return home by early April at the earliest.
According to the International Business Times (UK), “the US Navy is investigating whether sailors aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford deliberately started the fire that tore through the aircraft carrier’s main laundry spaces on 12 March.”
“The investigation explicitly includes the possibility of deliberate sabotage by crew members, with one theory suggesting the fire was intentionally set to interrupt the carrier’s lengthy and repeatedly extended mission.”
The Ford has now entered its tenth month of deployment, with crew members told their assignment will likely stretch into May — twice the length of a normal aircraft carrier deployment.
Notably, last month, the EurAsian Times reported that the USS Ford is not prepared for deployment to the Iran War.
We had highlighted that repeated extensions of Ford are not only tiring the sailors and affecting their morale but also delaying its scheduled dry-docking period in Virginia, during which major upgrades and repairs had been planned.
The carrier was due for a major maintenance and refitting period at the Newport News Naval Shipyard in Virginia early this year.
Even if the fire was not intentional, its repeated extensions, strain on its complex systems, and delayed maintenance and upgrades might also have contributed to the incident. Apart from the loss of high-value military systems, the war is also putting a heavy strain on US finances.
By ET Desk with AFP Inputs
