Sailors on the USS Gerald R. Ford have already been away from home for more than eight months and are now headed for yet another unanticipated stop, this time on the Greek island of Crete, following a fire on the ship, according to a source familiar with the matter. Naval Support Activity Souda Bay is located on the island.
The Ford left Norfolk, Virginia, last June, and its crew has seen combat in two hemispheres during a deployment that could soon be among the longest in the Navy since the Vietnam War.
The fire broke out in the ship’s main laundry spaces on March 12, and a sailor was medically evacuated to shore the following day due to injuries sustained during damage control efforts, said Cmdr. Joe Hontz, a spokesman for 5th Fleet.
More than 200 sailors were treated for smoke inhalation and later returned to duty, according to USNI news, which also reported that the fire destroyed more than 100 crew members’ beds.
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An Associated Press reporter shared on social media that the fire was extinguished in a few hours but required 30 hours of damage control, which typically involves tasks including draining water and clearing damage.
U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, announced on March 12 that there had been no damage to the Ford’s propulsion plant and the ship remained fully operational as part of ongoing air strikes on Iran. No further information was immediately available on the extent of damage to the ship.
The cause of the fire, which CENTCOM said was not due to combat, is under investigation.
Since the Ford left Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, on June 25, 2025, it has deployed to the Caribbean as part of the U.S. military building in the region, leading up to the special operations forces mission in January to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife. The ship’s deployment was then extended so that it could support ongoing operations against Iran, which began on Feb. 28.
Now the ship’s deployment could be extended again until May, according to the New York Times. That would extend the Ford’s current deployment to at least 310 days, rivaling the odyssey-like cruises of both the USS Abraham Lincoln and USS Nimitz, which stayed at sea for 295 and 341 days, respectively, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Ford has also been battling to keep its toilets working. The plumbing issues aboard the ship have garnered so much attention that the Navy addressed the matter in a Feb. 26 news release.
“During this deployment, Gerald R. Ford’s vacuum collection, holding, and transfer (VCHT) system has processed more than six million toilet flushes,” the news release says. “Ship leadership reports that clog incidents are addressed promptly by trained damage control and engineering personnel, with minimal downtime.”
Hard conditions for crew
Extended deployments can be taxing on sailors, said retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis, who
“Long and extended deployments gradually wear on a crew, leading to mistakes and missteps no matter how vigilant the leadership,” Stavridis told Task & Purpose. “This is particularly true after about six months of high optempo free time.”
In January, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle was asked during a media roundtable about the possibility that the Ford could be extended so that it could deploy to the Middle East.
“I think the Ford, from its capability perspective, would be an invaluable option any military thing the president wants to do, but if it requires an extension, you know it’s going to get some pushback from the CNO, and let’s see if something else I can do,” Caudle replied.
He also said he is concerned about the effects of extended deployments on both ships and their crews.
“People want to have some type of certainty that they’re going to do a seven- month deployment,” Caudle said. “And when it goes past that, that disrupts lives. It disrupts funerals that were planned, marriages that were planned, babies that were planned. So the human element of extension, I’m not a big fan of, obviously.”
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