The US has deployed the Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier USS George H.W. Bush to the Middle East, possibly to replace the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, which was initially deployed to the region but later retreated due to repair work.
The George H. W Bush departed from Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, on Tuesday to begin its scheduled deployment. Though the Navy has not mentioned whether the CVN-77 is headed, media reports hint that the carrier will be assigned to the U.S. Central Command, which covers the Middle East and part of Asia. It is expected that the carrier will replace USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) is now undergoing repairs in Split, Croatia. The Gerald R. Ford is nearing 300 days at sea, and the US Navy may opt to end that deployment, leaving a “warship vacancy in the Middle East” which the USS George H.W. Bush could be expected to fill.
What happened to USS Gerald R. Ford
The USS Gerald R. Ford is currently undergoing repairs in Croatia after a fire broke out in the main laundry room last month. The blaze injured three sailors, and one of them had to be evacuated from the vessel to receive urgent medical care. The fire affected 100 sleeping berths and forced 200 other sailors to receive treatment for smoke-related injuries.
Interestingly, the carrier has been under intense scrutiny ever since its deployment. As of Monday, the carrier had been deployed for 279 days, and the warship is likely to surpass the post-Vietnam War record of 294 days, set by the U.S. Navy’s Nimitz -class supercarrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) in 2020, according to reports.
Even though the morale among the crew was said to be low when it was redeployed to the Middle East, the fire is said to have worsened the situation, the media reports claimed the carrier limped its way to Croatia. The fire was reportedly so intense that it took hours to bring it under control, though the U.S. Navy hasn’t indicated how extensive the damage to the warship is.
"Croatia has capable shipyards that already conduct overhauls on U.S. support ships such as the USNS Mount Whitney command ship and logistics vessels. Souda Bay does not have a ship repair facility, and is more of a refuelling and resupply station,” Bryan Clark, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told Forbes. He added that the repair is unlikely to be related to launch and recovery systems, propulsion systems, or combat systems. “They are probably mostly repairs to the laundry and surrounding berthing spaces, so laundry equipment, insulation, lighting, internal bulkheads, etc.,” Clark continued.
It still would require deck modifications to deploy with the Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II, the carrier-specific variant of the fifth-generation Joint Strike Fighter.