New Delhi: The US Navy’s $13 billion aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has been confronted with a major operational setback. It has nothing to do with an enemy missile and everything to do with a flawed vacuum plumbing.
After a long period of deployment in the Caribbean for American operations in Venezuela, the Gerald Ford is currently stationed near Iran for an impending conflict. However, the crew of over 4,500 sailors has bigger problems on its hands—it is facing a near-total collapse of the sewage system on board.
First reported by NPR, other publications have now confirmed a “toilet war” on the most expensive ship ever built.
A 2025 internal engineering memo, dated 18 March, has revealed that more than 205 toilet breakdowns were recorded on the vessel in just four days in 2025. The crisis became so acute that sailors were forced to wait in 45-minute-long queues to use the latrine, the memo added.
The problem
The issue stems from a design and engineering blunder in the fragile vacuum-based system, equipped with only a few toilets for a 4,600-strong crew. The design flaw is that a single valve failure can disable every toilet within an entire department of the Gerald Ford, turning a routine malfunction into a ship-wide disaster.
Additionally, many temporary repairs, such as acid flushes to clear out stubborn calcium build-ups, can only be performed while the ship is safely docked in US shipyards.
With the ship currently deployed in hostile waters, there is “no prospect” of a permanent fix. This means the pressure on the few remaining operational toilets is likely to cause problems that will spread like wildfire.
The mechanical failure has also sparked a bitter “war of words” between the crew and the sewage specialists, known as hull technicians.
One engineering head has reportedly complained that sailors are “mistreating and damaging” the system every day. Overworked hull technicians are working more than 19-hour shifts just to keep the failing pipes from completely bursting.
The bigger problem
Gerald Ford has spent months near Venezuela, supporting the US seizure of oil-carrying vessels.
Reportedly, it was scheduled for repairs at the Navy’s public shipyard—Norfolk Naval Shipyard, Virginia—this year.
However, due to urgent requirements, the carrier was posted near Iran to spearhead a planned operation against Tehran.
The NPR has cited Shelby Oakley, director of the government accountability office, as saying, “It’s important to kind of think about, like we’re asking you sailors to live in these conditions. We should at least be able to provide them with living facilities, so that they do not have to kind of struggle in that regard. And, unfortunately, this is where we’re at.”
Now, the most critical question is how the US can successfully execute any military action while its navy is held hostage by plumbing. A single blocked valve has thrown a $13 billion warship into a crisis.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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