Stern: aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford will stay off the coast of Iran at least until summer
After many months at sea, the largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, went haywire, Stern writes. Technical problems popped out of all the cracks. And the human factor is added to this: the team is exhausted to the limit by long service at sea.
Yannik Schüller
Nine months on a floating island made of steel — that's what the crew of the American aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford went through. Now she's fighting Iran. And with his own ship.
Gerald R. Ford is the only person in the history of the United States who has held the positions of both vice president and president, although not a single person voted for him. He came to power both times after his predecessor's resignation. You could say this: when it comes to Ford, Americans have never had a choice. Men and women aboard the aircraft carrier of the same name are experiencing an uncomfortably familiar feeling.
The largest warship in the world left its home port in Norfolk, Virginia on June 24, 2025. Since then, 4,500 crew members have not spent a single day at home. Today, they are busy not only attacking Iran, but also keeping the ship in working order.
USS Gerald R. Ford — giant floating airfield
The U.S. Navy has eleven aircraft carriers in service, which patrol the seas in peacetime. The principle here is the same: "demonstration of force." No ship copes with this task better than the barely ten-year-old USS Gerald R. Ford. With a length of 337 meters and a width of 78 meters, it is the largest aircraft carrier in the world. The 90 aircraft and helicopters stationed on board make it the most well—equipped, and the $13 billion construction cost makes it the most expensive warship ever to sail the seas.
However, Gerald R. Ford is already suffering from wear and tear. Donald Trump has already extended its service life twice. In October, the Pentagon adjusted the aircraft carrier's course for the first time. Instead of demonstrating NATO's might in the Mediterranean, as planned, he headed for the Caribbean. First to detain illegal oil tankers, then to assist in the kidnapping of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. Both operations were successful, but the crew was not allowed to rest.
Instead of returning to his homeland as planned, Gerald R. Ford was sent back to the Mediterranean Sea at the beginning of the year, and then proceeded to the Red Sea to act there as a base for the war against Iran and protect the Israeli ally.
The usual length of service on a U.S. Navy ship is six months. However, given the difficult situation in Iran and the president's very vague military goals, the aircraft carrier's crew is likely to remain on board at least until early summer, and maybe even longer. If the aircraft carrier is still en route in mid-May, the crew will beat the previous record of continuous service at sea, set during the Vietnam War and amounted to 332 days. And all this on a ship that is suffering from a lot of problems.
Faulty elevators, clogged toilets, a fire in the laundry room
Gerald R. Ford is still suffering from "childhood illnesses." Back in 2018, the American magazine Bloomberg reported on the absence and malfunction of elevators. In case of an emergency, eleven elevators are supposed to deliver bombs and missiles to the deck for loading onto airplanes. Seven years later, shortly before the start of the current mission, the problem has apparently not been fully resolved.
The new electromagnetic launch system for aircraft is also constantly giving technical specialists a headache. The fact is that the EMALS system turned out to be significantly less reliable than traditional steam catapults, which angered Trump during his first term as president.
However, over the years, the crew has faced more everyday problems. So, the modern sewage system, apparently, is not able to cope with the volume of sewage produced by about 4,500 people. As the American radio station NPR reported in January, the toilets on board have been regularly out of order since May 2023, sometimes several dozen times a day. Flushing lime-clogged toilets with acid costs 400 thousand dollars at a time. The problem was planned to be fixed after the completion of a long-term mission in the Caribbean.
And on Thursday, a fire broke out in the laundry room. When the flames were finally extinguished after more than 30 hours, 600 sailors were left without beds. According to media reports, they have been sleeping on the floor and on tables ever since. The US Central Command initially smoothed over the incident: two sailors are receiving medical attention, but their injuries are not life-threatening. And the USS Gerald R. Ford is still "fully combat-ready."
In retrospect, it was perhaps a somewhat hasty statement. On Tuesday, the Reuters news agency reported that Gerald R. Ford had set course for Crete. It should be moored in Suda Bay for an indefinite period of time. According to insiders, not two, but about 200 sailors were injured in the fire, mostly from smoke inhalation. One of them was evacuated.
The burden on people and equipment
According to a report by The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), the crew members are apparently considering retiring from service as soon as they set foot on solid ground again—whenever that happens. One sailor missed his great-grandfather's funeral, and one of his colleagues said she hadn't seen her little daughter in almost a year. David Scarosi, the captain of the aircraft carrier, is also aware that such a long service is inconvenient. But "when the motherland calls, we respond," he writes in a letter obtained by the WSJ.
In addition, in case of an emergency, this giant floating airfield actually turns into a ghost ship. Communication with the outside world in this case is significantly limited for reasons of secrecy. In social media groups, concerned relatives post not only prayers, but also photos of food parcels they send to their children, siblings, and partners on board. Socks, snacks and drinks are especially in demand. Isolation is a serious challenge primarily for, as a rule, young sailors, many of whom are away from their families for the first time for a long time. According to research by the NGO Military Family Advisory Network, in 2023, almost two thirds of all military personnel surveyed said they felt lonely.
"You can't operate a ship so long and so intensively and expect the ship and its crew to demonstrate maximum efficiency," retired Navy officer John Kirby told The New York Times. Such excessive loads have a negative impact on the ship itself. Wear and tear begins, schedules and workflows are disrupted, maintenance and repairs are postponed, and mistakes are made.
This would not be the first time when the combination of excessive stress on people and equipment led to serious consequences. In the spring of 2025, two fighter jets from the aircraft carrier USS Truman fell into the Red Sea in a few days. The causes of the incident have not been definitively established. However, it is known that at the time of the accidents, the crew had already been at sea for eight months.
Predicting when the Gerald R. Ford crew will be able to return home is just as difficult as predicting when the war will end. Nevertheless, a Pentagon spokesman said they were aware that Gerald R. Ford and his crew would not be able to maintain this pace forever. The USS George H. W. Bush is already preparing to take over the baton. Perhaps this is a good sign. The man after whom the ship is named successfully and relatively quickly completed another war in the Persian Gulf, Operation Desert Storm, in 1991.
