As we’ve written, the U.S. will soon have not one, not two, but three aircraft carrier strike groups in the Middle East as we take the fight to Iran and attempt to crush the despotic regime of the mullahs.
Already, we’ve taken out Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and his son, Mojtaba, who has been named the new leader, has yet to make an appearance and is publicly represented as a cardboard figure.
What’s left of the regime has claimed on several occasions to have hit one of our carriers, but U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/U.S. 5th Fleet says that’s a bunch of hooey, and that a recent incident was not the result of an Iranian strike, but was instead a simple laundry fire.
Statement on USS Gerald R. Ford from U.S. 5th Fleet: https://t.co/5Q6ZPovuBy
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 12, 2026
There is no damage to the ship’s propulsion plant, and the aircraft carrier remains fully operational.
Two Sailors are currently receiving medical treatment for non-life-threatening injuries and are in stable condition. Additional information will be provided when available.
The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group is currently operating in the Red Sea in support of Operation Epic Fury.
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The Ford is on pace for an 11-month deployment, the longest in U.S. naval history, and has crossed the Atlantic Ocean twice as it was sent to the Caribbean region during the Maduro raid and is now in the Northern Red Sea for Operation Epic Fury.
The Ford may get a break when the USS George H.W. Bush strike group, which is reportedly soon to set sail, arrives in the arena and joins forces with the USS Abraham Lincoln.
At 1,106 feet, the Ford is the largest warship ever constructed, and boasts some serious firepower:The carrier has been deployed since June of 2025 and has been extended multiple times. Last month, the Pentagon extended Ford and tasked the carrier to the Middle East ahead of the start of the war with Iran.
If Ford remains deployed until mid-April, it will break the post-Vietnam War 294-day record for carrier deployments. USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) set that record in 2020. Should the carrier stay out until early May, it would rival the 300-day-plus deployments that carriers conducted during the Vietnam War to the Gulf of Tonkin.
It boasts a 256‑ft‑wide flight deck, weighs in at more than 100,000 tons, and is capable of holding more than 75 aircraft.
A laundry fire is certainly not enough to keep it down.
Editor's Note: For decades, former presidents have been all talk and no action. Now, Donald Trump is eliminating the threat from Iran once and for all.
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