Above photo: Giannis Angelakis/AP.
Greek media says an investigation will take place.
And will examine the possibility that US sailors on board the carrier deliberately caused the fire.
Washington’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, is returning from the Red Sea to the Greek island of Crete for refueling, and to probe the recent fire which erupted on board the ship days ago, Greek media reported on 17 March.
“The ship will return for refueling, but possibly also for an investigation into the large fire that broke out aboard the vessel,” a source told Greek outlet Kathimerini. The carrier had spent days resupplying at Crete’s Sousa Bay Base just before the war started.
“One scenario being examined is that the blaze may have been deliberately caused by crew members to terminate their extended mission,” the report added.
The massive fire broke out on the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier on 12 March, leaving hundreds of US Army soldiers without beds, according to a new report by the New York Times (NYT).
NYT reported on 16 March that the fire took more than 30 hours to extinguish. Dozens on board were subjected to smoke inhalation, while over 600 had their beds destroyed as a result of the fire, which began in the ship’s laundry area.
Soldiers are sleeping on floors and tables as a result, the report adds.
US Central Command (CENTCOM) said the incident was non-combat related, adding that two people were treated for minor injuries and that the fire caused “no damage to the ship’s propulsion plant, and the aircraft carrier remains fully operational.”
The Gerald Ford is operating in the Red Sea. Soldiers cited in the report say they have been informed that their deployment could be extended into May.
“The Ford is now entering its 10th month of deployment. It will break the record for longest post-Vietnam War carrier deployment if it is still at sea in mid-April. That record, at 294 days, was set by the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2020,” NYT wrote.
John F. Kirby, retired naval officer and former Pentagon press secretary and national security spokesman, told the outlet that “You can’t run a ship that long and that hard and expect her and her crew to perform at peak capacity.”
Weeks before the US-Israeli war on Iran erupted, reports emerged that the Ford was dealing with severe sewage issues and clogging.
At the time, retired US colonel Douglas MacGregor claimed that sailors were sabotaging the plumbing on the carrier to avoid going to war. He alleged that crew members were intentionally clogging the plumbing with items like shirts and socks in order to protest deployment.
The new NYT report comes as Iranian forces have repeatedly attempted to target US warships participating in the aggression against the Islamic Republic.
On Friday last week, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier suffered major damage after being targeted by Iranian missiles and drones, adding that the vessel retreated toward the US following the strike.
Washington denied that the carrier was attacked.
A day earlier, US media reports said an Iranian vessel attempted to engage the Lincoln and was fired at. Tehran had also announced an attack on the carrier in early March after the start of the war.
According to new satellite imagery, the Lincoln has, in the last few days, repositioned from near the Iranian coast to the southwestern Arabian Sea near the Omani port of Salalah.
