Video shows damage caused by fire on the world's largest aircraft carrier

When a fire ripped through the world's largest aircraft carrier in March during operations against Iran, the U.S. Navy released a brief statement saying the fire had been "contained," that two sailors had received medical treatment for "non-life-threatening injuries," and that the ship was "fully operational."

But new video obtained by CNN makes clear that the fire was more serious and devastating than the Navy suggested. The bunks where the sailors slept were completely destroyed.

What remained of the beds was charred and twisted metal beneath a roof that also appeared to be hollow from the fire. Wires hung from the ceiling and mounds of ash covered the floor around the bunk beds.

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"I really thought we were going to lose the ship," a sailor aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford told CNN, describing how he felt while fighting the fire. "It was fight or die."

The ship's fire suppression system failed, leaving sailors scrambling to put out the flames, according to the sailor and a senior American official familiar with the incident.

A senior American official told CNN that the Navy's public statement minimized the impact of the fire on the aircraft carrier Ford, as it was in the Red Sea supporting American military operations against Iran, although the fire did, in fact, affect its capabilities.

Two days passed before the Ford could resume its missions, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle said in April, and the ship was forced to return to port in Greece for temporary repairs.

When asked about the extent of the fire and the failure of the fire control system, a Navy spokesman told CNN: "The fire investigation is ongoing."

It took the crew of the USS Ford about 30 hours to put out the fire, clear the wreckage and prevent it from reigniting, and approximately 600 sailors lost access to their beds due to the damage, as previously reported by CNN.

"It shouldn't have gotten to this point. The ship's fire suppression system should have put out the fire," said the sailor, speaking on condition of anonymity to avoid reprisals from the Navy. "Everyone - including me - helped put out the fire."

Videos obtained by CNN and accounts from sailors aboard the USS Ford offer the clearest public portrait yet of the hardships sailors faced during a record 11-month deployment that included war with Iran and the U.S. military operation in Venezuela.

"Large fires are always a challenge, and this one was significant - a fire that started in the laundry room and dryer," Caudle told CNN after the Ford returned to its home port in Virginia. "The crew handled the situation brilliantly and courageously, fighting the fire masterfully and essentially returning to active duty in a matter of days."

The $13 billion ship was instrumental in US military operations against Iran. Pilots aboard the Ford carried out successive waves of bombing raids that hit Iranian targets. But the massive aircraft carrier wasn't just on the offensive.

USS Gerald R. Ford crossing the Strait of Gibraltar in early October, alongside Spanish and Moroccan ships - Facebook/USS Gerald R. Ford
The carrier strike group, which includes the Ford, was under "persistent threat from enemy missiles and unidirectional attack drones," according to a Presidential Unit Citation awarded to the group.

The sailor interviewed by CNN recalled that, at one point, when the USS Ford was in the Red Sea, he saw an orange trail in the sky, indicating that Iranian munitions were appearing on the horizon.

When Iranian missiles or drones came within a certain distance of the Ford, the ship "issued an alert, warning us to expect to be hit and take damage control measures," the sailor said.

The fire was not the only problem during the mission. The ship's toilets repeatedly clogged up. Another video from aboard the Ford, obtained by CNN, shows toilets overflowing with human waste.

"If you were at the front of the ship, you would have to walk to the back just to find a working bathroom," said the sailor.

The consequences of the fire could have been worse. Hunter Stires, who served as the then-Secretary of the Navy's maritime strategist until 2025, said the ship's quick recovery from the fire was a testament to the crew's training and resilience amid a record deployment.

"Fire and flooding are the two biggest dangers on board any ship," Stires told CNN. "The U.S. Navy, in turn, has an organizational culture and design philosophy that focuses relentlessly on damage control preparedness and systems redundancy to ensure ship survivability."

"The damage caused by war and fighting is inherently unpredictable," Stires said, when asked about the failure of the fire suppression system. "You don't know what's going to break," he added, explaining that's why sailor training and preparation is so important.

Inducted into the Navy in 2017, the Ford is the newest and most technologically advanced of the US's 11 nuclear aircraft carriers, and has become a symbol of the strength, and limits, of American naval power.

The Ford's electronic catapult system allows it to launch anything from small drones to large aircraft, giving commanders a wide range of firepower options, Brent Sadler, a 26-year Navy veteran and former submarine officer, told CNN.

The other 10 American aircraft carriers do not have this capability, according to Sadler.

The aircraft carrier USS Ford's mission, which ended with its return to Norfolk, Virginia, in May, also included the ship's participation in the American operation to capture former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

This mission - the longest by an aircraft carrier since the Vietnam War - also included port calls in the Mediterranean and Norway.

The Ford ship now faces an extended phase of maintenance due to the wear and tear of the voyage, including additional repairs related to the fire.

An American official told CNN that it could be at least a year before the Ford is ready to sail again, and that other ships may have to fill the gap.

Source: CNN