Overview
- The carrier is now anchored off Split, Croatia for repair work and crew respite after a brief assessment and initial fixes at the U.S. base in Souda Bay on Crete.
- The Navy says a laundry-area fire damaged berthing spaces, forcing about 600 sailors from their bunks and injuring a small number who received non-life-threatening care.
- Officials state the ship’s propulsion was not affected and flight operations continued, and investigators are still working to determine the cause.
- Analysts cited months of hard use and deferred upkeep and warned the ship could face a longer stretch of limited availability as U.S. shipyards struggle with backlogs.
- The carrier had been supporting the U.S.-led Operation Epic Fury tied to strikes on Iran, and other U.S. forces are shifting to sustain presence, including the amphibious group led by USS Tripoli and a possible handoff by the USS George H. W. Bush strike group.