The USS Gerald R Ford, the US Navy’s newest and largest aircraft carrier, was only able to fly sorties two days after a March 12 laundry fire was extinguished, the US Navy’s top officer said, in the first indication that the blaze hindered combat operations against Iran.
When the fire broke out, the ship was operating in the Red Sea as part of Operation Epic Fury.
A statement from the US 5th Fleet on March 12 said the ship remained fully operational after the fire, which it said was not combat-related and had left two sailors with non-life-threatening injuries.
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle, speaking to the Washington-based think tank the Center for Strategic and…