The USS Gerald R. Ford, the U.S. Navy's most advanced nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, is departing the Red Sea for Naval Support Activity Souda Bay in Crete after a fire broke out in its aft laundry facility on March 12.

The fire disabled berthing for over 600 sailors and prompted a significant damage control effort amid ongoing combat operations against Iran.

The fire, which was confirmed as non-combat-related, started on March 12 and spread through ventilation into adjacent sleeping quarters, destroying over 100 beds and displacing sailors shipwide that same day.

Two sailors were initially treated for non-life-threatening injuries, with one medically evacuated ashore. More than 200 others received treatment for smoke inhalation before returning to duty.

By March 13, the Navy had airlifted 1,000 replacement mattresses from the USS John F. Kennedy in Norfolk, Virginia, along with spare clothing, since the carrier's laundry facilities remained largely out of service.

Clarifying initial reports, a U.S. official stated that although damage control lasted over a day, the fire itself did not burn for 30 hours. Instead, the 30-hour period included firefighting, water-damage cleanup, and flare-up prevention. However, the U.S. Navy is formally investigating whether sailors aboard the Ford deliberately started the fire.

The Ford departed Norfolk, Virginia, on June 24, 2025. Over the following nine months, it operated across the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, and the Red Sea. On March 5, it transited the Suez Canal, then carried out sustained strike sorties under Operation Epic Fury.

Following the fire, the crew kept up combat sorties until the withdrawal decision. If the carrier remains deployed through mid-April, it will break the post-Vietnam War record of 294 days set by USS Abraham Lincoln in 2020.

The Ford's deployment is notable not only for its length but also its pace, with operations in two hemispheres, combat in the Middle East, and maintenance challenges, including recurring plumbing failures that drew public attention.

Adding to these challenges, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has formally designated the Ford carrier strike group a military target. This designation introduces an additional layer of operational pressure to what is already an unusually strained deployment.

The Ford will spend over a week at Souda Bay for pierside repairs. This stop will assess what can be fixed immediately and what requires attention at its home port in Norfolk. The rest of the Ford strike group—USS Mahan, USS Bainbridge, and USS Winston S. Churchill—will remain in the Red Sea and not follow the carrier to Crete.

The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group is already in the region to maintain combat operations. The USS George H.W. Bush has finished workup at Norfolk and is expected to deploy as relief for the Ford.

Gen.Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, addressed the crew's situation directly at a Pentagon briefing: "We're thinking about the crew there who were injured in the fire. We believe and hope that everyone will be OK, and we're grateful for that."