File photo of the USS Gerald R. Ford. BBC/Reuters.
The USS Gerald R. Ford will head to Crete for repairs after major damage from a fire. BBC. The Ford, America's newest and most powerful aircraft carrier was deployed in the conflict against Iran. A major fire broke out in the ships laundry room, destroying it and causing over 100 beds to become uninhabitable due to the effects of the fire. 200 sailors were exposed to smoke inhalation while three were treated for injuries. The ship remains operational but will return to Crete for repairs. The ships deployment has become controversial as it has been at sea for nine months, and has faced combat in both Venezuela and Iran. The USS George HW Bush is expected to replace the Ford soon.
My Comment:
The fire that damaged the Ford was a pretty severe one. Fires on a ship are always a big deal but this one made part of the ship uninhabitable and destroyed the laundry room, which is very important on such a large ship. It is not a surprise that the ship will have to be repaired and refurbished.
Laundry fires are a common threat to most naval vessels. In a large ship like the Ford, these facilities are often in constant use and given the extreme length of this deployment it's possible maintenance and safety could have been put at risk. Of course, fires happen on ships all the time so it's not surprising that this happened.
I also think there is no evidence that this was anything other than an accident. Some pro-Iran accounts are pushing the idea that this was an attack by Iran, but that seems ludicrous to me. The Ford is in the Red Sea and even if the Iranians had the exact location they would be very unlikely to be able to strike the ship at this point in the war. They simply don't have the weapons or intelligence capabilities to locate and strike the Ford. And if they were somehow able to do so, it wouldn't be possible to hide it.
Sabotage is similarly extremely unlikely. It's possible some sailor wanted to sabotage the ship, as things like this have happened before, but I can't see them starting a fire in the laundry room of all places. And, again, that's not something you would be able to hide either.
The real issue is that the deployment of the Ford lasted too long. It's almost been 10 months at sea for the ship and that's almost a record. Given how new the ship is and how intensely it's been used in both Iran and Venezuela, it's no surprise that things have gone wrong. In addition to this fire, the ship had major problems with sewage as well, which is also a common problem for deployed ships. It's possible the extreme length of this deployment contributed to the fire.
How much does this affect the conflict with Iran? Short term, it's not great, but it's also not the end of the world. The Ford may be capable continuing combat operations, but it's going to be out of position in Crete, which is a Greek Island in the Mediterranean. It will still be able to launch some strikes but it will cause some issues until it is replaced.
There is good news though too. The replacement of the Ford, the USS George HW Bush, is probably only a week away. And it's not like the Ford was the only Carrier operating in the area, the USS Abraham Lincoln is also deployed and will be able to pick up the slack. In addition, the USS Tripoli, carrying a Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and a squadron or so of F-35B Lightnings will be in the region shortly as well. The disruption caused by this fire will be a short one.
As for the conflict itself, the timing of this fire isn't the worst. Given how badly Iran's military and navy have been mauled by our forces, having a carrier be out of position isn't really that relevant anymore. It would have been one thing if it happened right at the beginning of the conflict, but now? It's not going to affect the war much.
I do think that the real story is that we shouldn't be deploying carriers for this long. The problem is that most of our fleet is down for repairs. Plus the Nimitz is about to be decommissioned and the Kennedy hasn't been fitted out yet. I know the timing of this conflict was probably important but it might have made more sense to push the Bush to take over for the Ford before the conflict even began.
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