U.S. media reports that America's largest aircraft carrier has "serious problems"

The U.S. Navy’s largest aircraft carrier, the “Ford,” was forced to evacuate from the Middle East combat zone after a fire broke out in the ship’s on-board laundry facility, and it arrived at the port in Crete, Greece, on the 23rd for repairs. Bloomberg News reported on the 24th that the incident exposed numerous longstanding technical and support problems in this carrier model.

A photo from the provided materials shows that at the U.S. Marine Corps MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft landed on the “Ford” carrier at the Naval Base in Norfolk, Virginia, U.S., with a photograph taken by Yin Bogu.

The “Ford” entered service in 2017 and is the lead ship of the newest generation of U.S. Navy nuclear-powered carriers in the Ford class. Bloomberg said a recent assessment report by the Department of Defense’s testing organization indicates that the carrier still faces many uncertainties in “combat effectiveness” and “system reliability.” Key areas—such as the shipborne aircraft launching and recovery systems, radar systems, survivability against attacks, and lift equipment for transferring weapons and ammunition to the flight deck—also lack sufficient live-test data.

The report said that due to the lack of comprehensive live-combat testing, there is not enough data to determine the Ford-class carrier’s combat effectiveness. This means it is currently unclear what the “Ford” carrier’s actual capabilities are in detecting, tracking, or intercepting enemy aircraft, anti-ship missiles, or small attack aircraft. In addition, it is also not possible to determine how its various systems will perform under the intense, continuous high-tempo takeoff and landing pressures the carrier would face during wartime.

The report also pointed out that the “Ford” lacks enough berthing space to accommodate all the ship’s crew, among other issues, and said that this shortage “will affect the quality of life on board.”

Since last June, the “Ford” has been deployed continuously at sea for about nine months, participating in U.S. military actions against Venezuela and Iran, respectively. On March 12, a fire broke out in the laundry room at the carrier’s stern, injuring three sailors, and more than 200 other sailors were treated after inhaling heavy smoke. The fire also destroyed multiple compartments aboard the carrier and a large number of berths.

In its report, Bloomberg noted that the incident highlights that, as the Trump administration tries to achieve its geopolitical objectives in Iran and Venezuela through “gunboat diplomacy,” even the U.S. Navy—equipped with the most advanced equipment—has already been under heavy strain.

Source: Xinhua News Agency