Carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to return to Crete next week, sources say
The American aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford which is currently deployed in the Middle East amid the US and Israeli war on Iran is expected to return to NATO’s naval base on Crete next week, Kathimerini understands.
The ship will return for refueling, but possibly also for an investigation into the large fire that broke out aboard the vessel on March 12, according to a source.
The New York Tines reported that the fire started in the ship’s main laundry area on Thursday. By the time it was over, more than 600 sailors and crew members had lost their beds and have since been bunking down on floors and tables, officials said.
The aircraft carrier is now entering its 10th month of deployment, the report said, adding that crew members have been told that their deployment will probably be extended into May, which would put them at an entire year at sea, twice the length of a normal aircraft carrier deployment.
Kathimerini understands that one scenario being examined is that the blaze may have been deliberately caused by crew members to terminate their extended mission.
The vessel
spent four days at the Souda Bay base on Crete last February resupplying, before heading for the eastern Mediterranean.