The US aircraft carrier USS Ford was evacuated from the Middle East combat zone due to a fire, revealing numerous technical and security issues.

The US Navy's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, was forced to withdraw from the Middle East theater due to a fire in its laundry room and was sent to the port of Crete in Greece for repairs. Bloomberg reported that this accident has exposed numerous technical and security issues that have persisted on this aircraft carrier for a long time.

The USS Gerald R Ford began service in 2017, several years later than originally planned, and is the first ship of the latest Ford-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier of the US Navy. It cost a staggering $13.2 billion (approximately $1.69 billion Singapore dollars), making it the most expensive warship ever built by the United States.

Bloomberg reported on Tuesday (March 24th) that the latest assessment report from the Pentagon's testing agency shows that the USS Gerald R Ford still has many uncertainties in terms of "operational effectiveness" and "system reliability". Key aspects such as the carrier's aircraft catapult and recovery system, radar system, anti-shock capability, and the lifting equipment for transferring weapons and ammunition to the flight deck all lack sufficient real-world test data.

Many of these problems surfaced after the ship began actual combat tests in October 2022. The US Navy has not commented on this report.

Due to the lack of complete real-world tests, there are not enough data to determine the operational effectiveness of the Ford-class aircraft carriers. This means that it is currently unclear how the USS Gerald R Ford performs in detecting, tracking, or intercepting enemy aircraft, anti-ship missiles, or small attack aircraft. It is also impossible to determine how the various systems will perform under the intense pressure of continuous take-offs and landings on this aircraft carrier during wartime.

The report also pointed out that the USS Gerald R Ford has problems such as insufficient berths to accommodate all the crew members and called this shortage "will affect the quality of life on board".

The USS Gerald R Ford has been continuously deployed at sea for about nine months since last June and has participated in US military operations against Venezuela and Iran.

On March 12th, a fire broke out in the laundry room at the stern of the USS Gerald R Ford, causing three sailors to be injured and over 200 sailors to receive treatment for inhaling thick smoke. The fire also destroyed multiple compartments and a large number of berths on the aircraft carrier.

Bloomberg reported in the article that this incident highlights that as the Trump administration attempts to achieve its geopolitical goals in Iran and Venezuela through "gunboat diplomacy", even the most advanced-equipped US Navy is already under pressure.