Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported that an officer assigned to the USS Gerald R. Ford revealed to his father that the "warship's toilet system is experiencing problems".
NPR previously reported that some toilets on the US supercarrier had broken down.
According to emails from 2025 collected by the station, the USS Gerald R. Ford experienced 205 wastewater drainage incidents within four days. Technical teams worked continuously for 19 hours to resolve leaks and overflows. Since 2023, the ship has required external assistance 42 times, with 32 of those instances occurring in 2025 alone.
This situation has become so frequent that some news outlets describe it as a "toilet crisis".
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The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier in the Caribbean Sea on 19/1. Photo: US Navy
US Navy officials confirmed that the ship's wastewater drainage system, which uses vacuum technology to transport waste from approximately 650 toilets to treatment facilities, malfunctioned during the USS Gerald R. Ford's operational deployment. This required daily repairs by technicians.
Despite this, the official stated that the situation is improving and the issue does not affect the USS Gerald R. Ford's operational capabilities.
David Carter, a spokesperson for the US Fleet Forces Command, attributed the primary cause of the Ford's toilet malfunctions to "unsuitable materials" being flushed into the wastewater pipes. He did not specify the materials, but they reportedly included t-shirts and mop heads.
A report published in 2020 by the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) indicated that the USS Gerald R. Ford's wastewater pipes were designed too narrowly, failing to meet the flushing demands of over 4,000 crew members. To unclog the toilets, the US Navy must use special chemicals, costing approximately 400,000 USD per application.
Extended time at sea may also contribute to the issue. Retired US Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery noted that a ship's equipment typically begins to degrade after about eight months without returning to port for maintenance and repairs.
The USS Gerald R. Ford has not returned to its homeport since 6/2025. US officials have twice extended the deployment of the Ford Carrier Strike Group, most recently mid-month when the force was ordered to move from the Caribbean Sea to the Middle East, preparing for a potential strike against Iran.
According to Montgomery, peacetime carrier deployments typically last about six months, with potential extensions of a few months if necessary. However, the mission in the Middle East could see the USS Gerald R. Ford at sea for up to 11 months, a record for continuous deployment duration for a US Navy vessel.
The USS Gerald R. Ford is the most expensive warship in US Navy history, with a delivery cost of nearly 13 billion USD. However, the warship encountered numerous problems during construction, leading to delays and cost overruns, as well as experiencing various malfunctions during its deployment.
Pham Giang (According to Wall Street Journal, NPR, Navy Times)
