USS Gerald Ford beset by mystery fire and clogged toilets

The ‘supercarrier’ USS Gerald Ford isn’t doing super well. The ship is being sent to Crete for repairs after a mystery fire caused severe damage. Some open source accounts and legacy media claim the fire took 30 hours to control and affected hundreds of sailors.

The Ford has been at sea for nearly a whole year. It was involved in the US attack on Venezuela on 3 Jan.

US-Israel attacked Iran first on 28 February without provocation. Iran was offering unprecedented concessions in negotiations at the time. The Pentagon has since stated there was no imminent threat from Iran. And the UN’s atomic watchdog, the IAEA, has said there is no evidence Iran was developing a nuclear weapon.

Reuters reported:

The ​officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not say how long the Ford was expected to remain in Crete.

One of the officials said nearly 200 sailors were treated for smoke-related ​injuries when the fire broke out in the ship’s main laundry area. The fire ​took hours to bring under control and had an impact on roughly 100 sleeping berths.

However a US defence official said the ship was still part of the US attack on Iran:

the ship’s toilet system was subject to “unexpected and frequent clogging” and requires acid flushes on a regular basis to clear it, at a cost of $400,000 each time.

Sabotage on the USS Gerald Ford?

The sailors aboard the USS Gerald Ford have low morale. Even US senator Mark Warner – a former navy man – said:

The Ford and its crew have been pushed to the brink after nearly a year at sea, and they have been paying the price for President Donald Trump’s reckless military decisions.

First, dissenters:

The dissenters were part of what became known as the GI movement, soldiers publishing ‘underground’ newspapers, signing antiwar petitions, attending protest rallies and engaging in various forms of public speech to demand an end to the war.

Second, resisters:

The resisters were those who disobeyed orders, defied military authority, refused orders, went absent without leave, committed acts of sabotage, and in some cases attacked their own officers and sergeants.

There is no hard evidence of sabotage or mutiny. But this is a deeply unpopular and quickly failing war. The personnel aboard the Ford have been at sea for nearly year. There is clearly poor leadership and strong sense in the US that the war is connected to Epstein files. That environment is a tinderbox for dissent, at the very least.

Featured image via the Canary