The U.S. 5th Fleet revealed two sailors suffered non-life-threatening injuries after a fire broke out on nuclear supercarrier the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), command apparently moving fast to explain the blaze amid a flurry of Iranian claims of strikes against America’s navy.
A fire broke out in the ship’s laundry of USS Gerald R. Ford today, the world’s largest commissioned warship, leading to two sailors “receiving medical treatment for non-life-threatening injuries”, the Central Command of the U.S. Navy said. Those sailors are in stable condition.
Given the Ford is deployed in the battle against Iran as part of Operation Epic Fury and is daily launching operations from the Red Sea, the U.S. 5th Fleet emphasised:
The cause of the fire was not combat-related and is contained. There is no damage to the ship’s propulsion plant, and the aircraft carrier remains fully operational.
The Gerald R. Ford carriers, which carry two nuclear reactors, have a compliment of other 4,500 officers and men, including naval aviators for the air wing. The USNI reports the Ford is on its way to setting a record for length of carrier deployment, and would overtake 300-day deployment records set during the Vietnam War by mid-April.
While a nuclear carrier goes decades between needing to be refuelled, the practical length of deployments is limited by need to reprovision, rotate crew, and undertake maintenance and repair defects in a U.S. yard. Stocks of aviation fuel, to support the flights of embarked fighters and helicopters, as well as air-launched weapons for the air wing, can typically be easily resupplied at sea and in theatre.
America’s aircraft carriers have been the subject of persistent claims of devastating attacks by the Iranian regime. Last week, Iran asserted it had not only struck, but had sunk the supercarrier USS Abraham Lincoln, supporting the claim with A.I. images. The U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) rubbished such boasting in a statement earlier this month, noting these claims are a “lie” and that “The Lincoln was not hit. The missiles launched didn’t even come close.”
Read the full article here