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Fire on U.S. Aircraft Carrier Raged for Hours, Sailors Say
Hat tip, Joe.My.God.
https://www.joemygod.com/2026/03/nyt-fire-on-us-aircraft-carrier-raged-for-30-hours/
Fire on U.S. Aircraft Carrier Raged for Hours, Sailors Say
The Ford is now entering its 10th month of deployment after arriving in the Middle East from the Caribbean.
The crew on the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford have been told that their deployment will likely be extended into May, which would put them at an entire year at sea. Giannis Angelakis/Associated Press
By Helene Cooper
Reporting from Washington
March 16, 2026
It took more than 30 hours for sailors to put out the fire aboard the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford last week, sailors and military officials said, as the beleaguered ship continued its monthslong slog through President Trump’s military operations.
The fire started in the ship’s main laundry area last Thursday. By the time it was over, more than 600 sailors and crew members had lost their beds and have since been bunking down on floors and tables, officials said.
The U.S. military’s Central Command said two sailors received treatment for “non-life-threatening injuries.” People on the ship reported that dozens of service members suffered smoke inhalation. ... And in the category of non-life-threatening, but still not ideal, many sailors have not been able to do laundry since the fire.
The ship, along with its 4,500 sailors and fighter pilots, was in the Mediterranean on Oct. 24 when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered it to steam to the Caribbean to add weight to President Trump’s pressure campaign on Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s leader before his seizure.
{snip}
Helene Cooper is a Pentagon correspondent for The Times. She was previously an editor, diplomatic correspondent and White House correspondent.
The Ford is now entering its 10th month of deployment after arriving in the Middle East from the Caribbean.
The crew on the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford have been told that their deployment will likely be extended into May, which would put them at an entire year at sea. Giannis Angelakis/Associated Press
By Helene Cooper
Reporting from Washington
March 16, 2026
It took more than 30 hours for sailors to put out the fire aboard the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford last week, sailors and military officials said, as the beleaguered ship continued its monthslong slog through President Trump’s military operations.
The fire started in the ship’s main laundry area last Thursday. By the time it was over, more than 600 sailors and crew members had lost their beds and have since been bunking down on floors and tables, officials said.
The U.S. military’s Central Command said two sailors received treatment for “non-life-threatening injuries.” People on the ship reported that dozens of service members suffered smoke inhalation. ... And in the category of non-life-threatening, but still not ideal, many sailors have not been able to do laundry since the fire.
The ship, along with its 4,500 sailors and fighter pilots, was in the Mediterranean on Oct. 24 when Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered it to steam to the Caribbean to add weight to President Trump’s pressure campaign on Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s leader before his seizure.
{snip}
Helene Cooper is a Pentagon correspondent for The Times. She was previously an editor, diplomatic correspondent and White House correspondent.
9 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
Business | Aerospace & Defense
On A U.S. Navy Supercarrier Even A Small Fire Is A Big Deal
By Peter Suciu, Contributor. Peter Suciu covers trends in the world of aerospace and defense.
Mar 14, 2026, 09:57am EDT
The damage on the USS Forrestal following a July 1967 fire.
Bettmann Archive
Two sailors aboard the United States Navy’s largest warship, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), were injured after a fire broke out in the laundry room on Thursday. The U.S. Navy’s newest nuclear-powered supercarrier was operating in the Red Sea in support of Operation Epic Fury when the incident occurred.
{snip}
Attack Ship On Fire
This week’s laundry room fire hasn’t affected the CVN-78’s operational capability; however, any fire at sea is a serious concern. Since the devastating blazes that occurred on three of the U.S. Navy’s flattops in the 1960s, procedures have been put in place to reduce their likelihood and to ensure that a fire can be contained before it becomes a much more serious problem.
“Fires on warships happen more often than most people realize, but they are usually small and contained quickly because firefighting is one of the most heavily drilled skills in any navy,” explained geopolitical analyst Irina Tsukerman, president of threat assessment firm Scarab Rising. “Sailors train constantly for onboard fires because a ship at sea cannot call a fire department.” {snip} In this case, what matters more than the fire itself is how quickly it was detected and how professionally the crew responded. ... “The fact that the fire stayed limited to a laundry space shows the damage control teams did exactly what they are trained to do,” Tsukerman said in an email.
{snip}
“What this really shows is how complex these floating cities are,” Tsukerman continued. “A nuclear carrier is basically a small town that happens to launch fighter jets. When you put thousands of people inside a steel structure operating nonstop in saltwater, small mechanical problems are part of daily life. The real measure of the ship is whether problems stay small, whether crews respond quickly, and whether leadership treats these incidents as signals to stay ahead of bigger maintenance pressures.”
On A U.S. Navy Supercarrier Even A Small Fire Is A Big Deal
By Peter Suciu, Contributor. Peter Suciu covers trends in the world of aerospace and defense.
Mar 14, 2026, 09:57am EDT
The damage on the USS Forrestal following a July 1967 fire.
Bettmann Archive
Two sailors aboard the United States Navy’s largest warship, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), were injured after a fire broke out in the laundry room on Thursday. The U.S. Navy’s newest nuclear-powered supercarrier was operating in the Red Sea in support of Operation Epic Fury when the incident occurred.
{snip}
Attack Ship On Fire
This week’s laundry room fire hasn’t affected the CVN-78’s operational capability; however, any fire at sea is a serious concern. Since the devastating blazes that occurred on three of the U.S. Navy’s flattops in the 1960s, procedures have been put in place to reduce their likelihood and to ensure that a fire can be contained before it becomes a much more serious problem.
“Fires on warships happen more often than most people realize, but they are usually small and contained quickly because firefighting is one of the most heavily drilled skills in any navy,” explained geopolitical analyst Irina Tsukerman, president of threat assessment firm Scarab Rising. “Sailors train constantly for onboard fires because a ship at sea cannot call a fire department.” {snip} In this case, what matters more than the fire itself is how quickly it was detected and how professionally the crew responded. ... “The fact that the fire stayed limited to a laundry space shows the damage control teams did exactly what they are trained to do,” Tsukerman said in an email.
{snip}
“What this really shows is how complex these floating cities are,” Tsukerman continued. “A nuclear carrier is basically a small town that happens to launch fighter jets. When you put thousands of people inside a steel structure operating nonstop in saltwater, small mechanical problems are part of daily life. The real measure of the ship is whether problems stay small, whether crews respond quickly, and whether leadership treats these incidents as signals to stay ahead of bigger maintenance pressures.”
The line in this story "....600 sailors and crew members had lost their beds...." confuses me. I served on two ships -- neither were Carriers, and both were old WWII ships. Our 'bunks' were metal tubes in a rectangle that had canvas fastened to them with rope. Then a thin mattress on that.
Here is an example:
I don't remember ever having the canvass nor the mattress get washed in the laundry. How did the sailors on the Ford lose their beds? Was there a lice infestation that had caused the bedding to be in the laundry area?
Perhaps just smoke had permeated the bedding and it can't be used?
