The U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, which withdrew from the front lines following a fire during Operation Magnificent Fury in the Red Sea, arrived at the port of Split, Croatia, on the 28th (local time).
According to Reuters, the U.S. Embassy in Croatia announced the arrival in a statement, saying, “The USS Gerald R. Ford will invite local officials and key leaders to reaffirm the strong and enduring alliance between the United States and Croatia.” The Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier and the newest in the U.S. fleet, experienced a fire in its laundry room on the 12th.
Three people were injured in the fire at the time, and separately, nearly 200 people received treatment for smoke-related issues. It took about 30 hours to extinguish the fire, and as a result of the aftermath, around 600 crew members had to sleep on the floor and tables at one point, and it is reported that about 100 bunks were affected. The USS Ford called at the Bay of Souda base on the Greek island of Crete in the middle of the Mediterranean last week for repairs and refueling, and is scheduled to move northwest to Split, which borders the Adriatic Sea between the Italian and Balkan peninsulas, for repairs and maintenance. The USS Ford carries a crew of approximately 5,000 and more than 75 military aircraft, including F-18 Super Hornets. The USS Ford has remained in service since June of last year, which is a considerably long period for an aircraft carrier.
Previously, the USS Ford docked in Croatia for several days last October, and the carrier strike group centered around the Ford was dispatched to the Caribbean last November for operations against Venezuela, before moving again early this year following orders to be deployed to the Middle East. When the USS Ford entered the Souda Bay base in February of this year prior to the start of Operation ‘Great Fury,’ protests took place on the island of Crete.
As Yemen’s Houthi rebels declared their participation in the Middle East war and launched missile attacks against Israel and others on the 28th, concerns are being raised that the USS Ford could be vulnerable to their attacks if it returns to the Red Sea, where it was deployed prior to the fire incident. In 2024, the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, followed by the USS Harry S. Truman in 2025, were deployed to the Red Sea to engage in combat with the Houthi rebels.
The U.S. military dispatched an aircraft carrier strike group centered on the USS George H.W. Bush from the U.S. Atlantic coast to head to the Middle East. Currently, the U.S. Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is deployed in the waters of the Middle East. The U.S. military possesses 11 active aircraft carriers, all of which are nuclear-powered. Of these, 10 are Nimitz-class and one is Gerald R. Ford-class.