Thanks mate
Aircraft Carriers III
- Thread starter Jeff Head
- Start date
This fire was very, very bad..
This story has been updated to include a statement from a Pentagon spokesperson.
Carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) is preparing to leave the Red Sea to undergo repairs at the U.S. Navy base on Crete after a fire last week required several hours of damage control efforts, USNI News has learned.
Ford will travel to Naval Support Activity Souda Bay for more than a week of pierside repairs, a senior U.S. official confirmed to USNI News on Tuesday. The official confirmed a report in a local Greek news outlet that said Ford is returning to Crete.
The March 12 fire, which occurred in the aft laundry facility, resulted in a major damage control response that displaced sailors across the carrier and disrupted operations throughout the ship, the source confirmed to USNI News.
One sailor was medically evacuated from the carrier after being injured in the damage control effort and is in stable condition, while two others were treated for lacerations, another official told USNI News. More than 200 sailors were treated for smoke inhalation and returned to duty, two sources familiar with the fire response told USNI News.
“Ship’s force is inspecting and overhauling affected spaces, and the cause of the fire is under investigation,” a spokesperson for U.S. 5th Fleet told USNI News in a statement. “The ship continues to operate in the Red Sea, accomplishing U.S. Central Command tasking in support of Operation Epic Fury.”
The smoke damage extended to the berthing, requiring the Navy to take 1,000 mattresses off the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) in Newport News, Va., over the weekend to send to Ford, USNI News understands. The Navy has also collected almost 2,000 sweatsuits and other clothing items to distribute to the crew because many sailors are unable to clean their clothes with most of the laundry services out of commission, a source confirmed to USNI News.
“Due to the fire, several berthing spaces and subsequently, more than 100 racks (beds) were lost,” a Pentagon spokesperson told USNI News in a statement. “An immediate plan to acquire replacement cots has already been established. The resiliency and mental grit of our Sailors has enabled USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) to support ongoing operations.”
Initial communications about the fire suggested that Ford would need depot-level repairs, USNI News understands.
The New York Times reported some details of the fire on Monday. One source told USNI News that the damage control efforts, like ensuring the fire had not spread, lasted for more than a day – not that the fire lasted for 30 hours, as reported in The Times.
Ford sailed through the Suez Canal earlier this month and has been operating in the Red Sea with escorts USS Bainbridge (DDG-96), USS Mahan (DDG-72) and USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81), according to Monday’s USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker.
As of Tuesday, Ford has been deployed for 266 days. Should Ford remain deployed through mid-April, it will break the post-Vietnam War 294-day record for carrier deployments. USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) set that record in 2020. If the carrier stays out until early May, it would rival the 300-day-plus deployments that carriers conducted to the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War.
The USNI News carrier deployment data uses an internal database that does not include certification cruises, training exercises or other qualification underways. The data only includes operational carrier deployments focused on national tasking as a measure of U.S. combat power and does not account for the time sailors are away from home.
USS Nimitz (CVN-68) was underway for just under a year during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic because of restriction of movement orders and rules around limited port visits meant to reduce the spread of the virus. The carrier was deployed for national tasking for 263 days.
My grandson, "Poopeye", served on Nimitz during the pandemic deployment.
This story has been updated to include a statement from a Pentagon spokesperson.
Carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) is preparing to leave the Red Sea to undergo repairs at the U.S. Navy base on Crete after a fire last week required several hours of damage control efforts, USNI News has learned.
Ford will travel to Naval Support Activity Souda Bay for more than a week of pierside repairs, a senior U.S. official confirmed to USNI News on Tuesday. The official confirmed a report in a local Greek news outlet that said Ford is returning to Crete.
The March 12 fire, which occurred in the aft laundry facility, resulted in a major damage control response that displaced sailors across the carrier and disrupted operations throughout the ship, the source confirmed to USNI News.
One sailor was medically evacuated from the carrier after being injured in the damage control effort and is in stable condition, while two others were treated for lacerations, another official told USNI News. More than 200 sailors were treated for smoke inhalation and returned to duty, two sources familiar with the fire response told USNI News.
“Ship’s force is inspecting and overhauling affected spaces, and the cause of the fire is under investigation,” a spokesperson for U.S. 5th Fleet told USNI News in a statement. “The ship continues to operate in the Red Sea, accomplishing U.S. Central Command tasking in support of Operation Epic Fury.”
The smoke damage extended to the berthing, requiring the Navy to take 1,000 mattresses off the future USS John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) in Newport News, Va., over the weekend to send to Ford, USNI News understands. The Navy has also collected almost 2,000 sweatsuits and other clothing items to distribute to the crew because many sailors are unable to clean their clothes with most of the laundry services out of commission, a source confirmed to USNI News.
“Due to the fire, several berthing spaces and subsequently, more than 100 racks (beds) were lost,” a Pentagon spokesperson told USNI News in a statement. “An immediate plan to acquire replacement cots has already been established. The resiliency and mental grit of our Sailors has enabled USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) to support ongoing operations.”
Initial communications about the fire suggested that Ford would need depot-level repairs, USNI News understands.
The New York Times reported some details of the fire on Monday. One source told USNI News that the damage control efforts, like ensuring the fire had not spread, lasted for more than a day – not that the fire lasted for 30 hours, as reported in The Times.
Ford sailed through the Suez Canal earlier this month and has been operating in the Red Sea with escorts USS Bainbridge (DDG-96), USS Mahan (DDG-72) and USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81), according to Monday’s USNI News Fleet and Marine Tracker.
As of Tuesday, Ford has been deployed for 266 days. Should Ford remain deployed through mid-April, it will break the post-Vietnam War 294-day record for carrier deployments. USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) set that record in 2020. If the carrier stays out until early May, it would rival the 300-day-plus deployments that carriers conducted to the Gulf of Tonkin during the Vietnam War.
The USNI News carrier deployment data uses an internal database that does not include certification cruises, training exercises or other qualification underways. The data only includes operational carrier deployments focused on national tasking as a measure of U.S. combat power and does not account for the time sailors are away from home.
USS Nimitz (CVN-68) was underway for just under a year during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic because of restriction of movement orders and rules around limited port visits meant to reduce the spread of the virus. The carrier was deployed for national tasking for 263 days.
My grandson, "Poopeye", served on Nimitz during the pandemic deployment.
I've seen numerous fake news & videos claiming USS Gerald R Ford was damaged by missiles,sunk even. Also one video suggested that some crewmembers set the ship on fire....Well now, on this past Sunday she arrived in Souda Bay Crete for repairs. It is my understanding that she will be there a week. We will have to see. Oh yeah..in case anyone wants to know the ship has been deployed since June 24th 2025.
USS Gerald R. Ford Returns To Crete For Repairs After Fire
Equation
Lieutenant General
Just curious Popeye does the crew get some R&R once the carrier dock for repairs?
They should be granted some liberty(R&R) they have been deployed since June 2025.
Big deck amphibious warship USS Tripoli (LHA-7) and its embarked Marines are now operating in U.S. Central Command, the Pentagon announced Saturday.
Tripoli reached the theater Friday after transiting the Strait of Malacca and making a stop in Diego Garcia, according to the .
“U.S. Sailors and Marines aboard USS Tripoli (LHA-7) arrived in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility, March 27,” CENTCOM posted on social media website X.
“The America-class amphibious assault ship serves as the flagship for the Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group / 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit composed of about 3,500 Sailors and Marines in addition to transport and strike fighter aircraft, as well as amphibious assault and tactical assets.”
The Tripoli Amphibious Ready Group includes Tripoli, USS New Orleans (LPD-18) and elements of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit. Tripoli is the Navy’s forward-deployed amphibious assault ship based out of Sasebo, Japan. USS Rushmore (LSD-47), which is also based in Sasebo, is expected to meet up with the ARG/MEU, USNI News understands.
Meanwhile, aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) is now in Split, Croatia, after making a port visit to Souda Bay, Greece, earlier this week. The carrier for Crete after suffering a laundry fire in mid-March that damaged numerous berthing spaces, USNI News previously reported.
The carrier’s commanding officer said in a statement that the crew will get “some well-deserved liberty” in Croatia.
“While in Souda Bay, Forward Deployed Regional Maintenance Center personnel, including structural engineers, naval architects and other subject matter experts, conducted a repair assessment, and military and federal civilian law enforcement continued investigations into a fire aboard the ship originating in the ship’s laundry facilities,” reads a news release from U.S. 6th Fleet. “Ship’s force personnel and local industry partners supported the rehabilitation of seven berthing compartments affected by the fire.”
Ford deployed in June 2025 from Norfolk, Va., and had its deployment extended in early February before the U.S. and Israel launched the ongoing offensive against Iran on Feb. 28. The carrier had been operating in U.S. Southern Command and supported the American raid in Venezuela that , Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Cilia Flores.
As of Saturday, Ford has been deployed for 277 days. Should Ford remain deployed through mid-April, it will break the post-Vietnam War 294-day record for carrier deployments that USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) set in 2020. If the carrier stays out until early May, it would rival the 300-day-plus deployments that carriers conducted during the Vietnam War to the Gulf of Tonkin.
BAY OF CADIZ – (March 18, 2026) U.S. Navy MH-60R Seahawks attached to Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 79 “Griffins” conduct flight operations aboard the Juan Carlos I-class aircraft carrier landing helicopter dock SPS Juan Carlos I (L 61) during interoperability exercises with the Spanish Armada, March 18, 2026. The “Griffins” of HSM 79 deploy combat ready detachments to conduct Joint Maritime Operations in support of Commander, U.S. Sixth Fleet. (U.S. Navy photos by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Jonathan P. Nye)
Full story in posted link
USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) departed Split, Croatia, following a five-day port visit, the Navy announced Thursday.
It is unclear where the aircraft carrier is headed. Ford has been out for 282 days and is set to have a record-breaking deployment.
“Gerald R. Ford remains poised for full mission tasking in support of national objectives in any area of operation,” reads the Navy news release.
The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, which left Norfolk, Va., on June 24, 2025, is expected to be out for approximately 11 months, . If the ship does not arrive home by April 15, it will break the post-Vietnam War carrier deployment record.
Ford pulled into Split on Saturday following a five-day stint in Souda Bay, Greece, for repairs following a laundry fire. The fire displaced hundreds of sailors assigned to the ship and required the Navy to pull mattresses from the future John F. Kennedy (CVN-79) to send to the ship.
The laundry fire, which broke out on March 12, is still under investigation. During the repairs in Souda Bay, the Navy rehabilitated seven berthing compartments, .
Repairs continued in Split, where the ship also received additional supplies for its deployment, the Navy said. The Navy did not provide additional details on the repairs.
While in Split, the carrier’s crew went on liberty, with tours and events arranged by the morale, welfare and recreation team aboard Ford.
With Ford in the Mediterranean Sea, the Navy has one aircraft carrier in the Middle East as the U.S. and Israel continue the offensive against Iran.