This article has been updated with new information.
As the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford steams from Venezuela to the Middle East to join the USS Abraham Lincoln, the long deployment is reportedly taking its toll on the sailors aboard.
Not only are they missing their families, but sanitation is becoming a big problem, with overflowing toilets.
But here’s why you might give a — er, be concerned.
The ship’s morale reportedly is so bad that sailors are considering leaving the Navy. That’s probably not what you want to hear when the president is threatening military action to force Iran to make concessions on its nuclear program.
Some of the sailors aboard had complaints, according to a report this week by the Wall Street Journal. One missed his great-grandfather’s funeral, another missed moments of his young daughter’s life, and several complained about the sewage issues, which is just yuck!
An increasing number of news outlets — and social media posts — are focused on the backups. Militarywatchmagazine.com said that 600 toilets, heads as they call them in the Navy, were nonfunctional at times, “forcing sailors to wait up to 45 minutes” to use one.
One Michigan senator said late Friday, Feb. 27, he’s looking into it.
The Navy, however, responded to the Free Press with a statement from Adm. Daryl Caudle, the chief of Naval Operations, that morale “remains strong,” systems are operating within “expected parameters,” and “extended deployments demand endurance.”
The Ford carries a crew of more than 4,000 sailors.
Sailors, Caudle said, “miss births, anniversaries, and everyday moments at home,” adding that the crew is “experienced, disciplined, and committed,” the sacrifice is real, and the Navy does not “take it lightly.”
Possible strikes on Iran
The Ford, named after Michigan’s only president, is the world’s largest aircraft carrier, and has a connection to the state — if not figuratively through its name, then through some of the sailors serving aboard.
In 2022, a dozen sailors from Michigan who were on the Ford had dinner with Gerald Ford’s nephews, Bob and Greg Ford, in Grand Rapids. The Navy said they talked about how much it meant to Ford that “the Navy’s next generation of aircraft carriers was named after him.”
Gary Peters, one of Michigan’s two Democratic U.S. senators and a retired Navy Reserve Lt. Commander who served in the Persian Gulf region, told the Free Press he is “seeking clarity about the conditions on board.”
“My top priority,” said Peters, who is on the Senate Committee of Armed Services, “is ensuring the safety and well-being of our service members who are defending our national security interests around the globe.”
President Donald Trump stepped up his rhetoric against Iran in January, suggesting that if the nation did not agree to his demands, he could launch an attack “with speed and violence.” It would be the second one within a year.
On Wednesday, Feb. 25, the Ford was docked at the U.S. naval base on the island of Crete as part of the American force buildup that Trump is positioning to threaten Iran. The next day, America and Iran had another round of negotiations in Geneva.
And on Friday, with the threat of an American strike on Iran, the United States reportedly authorized the departure of nonessential government workers and their families from Israel. Trump also said he was “not happy” with negotiations and “we’ll see what happens.”
Long, peacetime deployment
The Ford, a nuclear-powered ship, was initially sent to sea last June on what was expected to be a routine rotation in the Mediterranean, but, instead went to the Caribbean, and then back across the Atlantic.
It is now approaching one of the longest post-Vietnam deployments.
The longest post-Vietnam ship deployment was the Lincoln, another aircraft carrier, ending in 2020 at 295 days. If still out past mid-April, the Ford’s deploymnet time would exceed that.
In addition to the admiral’s remarks that morale on the Ford is strong, the Navy has said its recruitment last year was up, exceeding its goals in every category, including officers, enlisted and the Navy Reserve.
At the same time, it is unclear how connected the reported toilet backups are to the long deployment, because they have been a known problem for aircraft carriers for years, which also might explain the Navy’s “expected parameters” response.
In 2020, the General Accountability Office found problems with the waste system, which it said was inadequate and had design flaws.
And as far back as 2011, the Washington Post reported that the USS George H.W. Bush, another carrier, was facing “chronic plumbing problems for months,” leading to toilet outages.
The Post reported the backups, at that time, were so bad that sailors had resorted to “urinating in showers or into the industrial sinks at their work stations” and “a clog caused all of the heads on the forward half of the ship, and then the rear, to back up.”
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: USS Gerald R. Ford moving to Middle East, but its toilets are clogged
Reporting by Frank Witsil, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
