Amid Iran Attack Plans, U.S. Aircraft Carrier Suffers Toilet Glitch

The purported U.S. attack on Iran has encountered an operational setback unrelated to weapons systems: persistent toilet failures aboard the lead aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford.

According to emails obtained by NPR and later confirmed by The Wall Street Journal, the ship is facing ongoing sewage system breakdowns affecting its crew of over 4,500 sailors. The vessel, described as the most expensive ship ever built by the U.S. Navy, has too few functioning toilets, leading to queues of up to 45 minutes.

The problems stem from both design and engineering issues. The ship was built with an insufficient number of toilets for its crew size. In addition, a fragile vacuum-based sewage system means that a single valve failure can disable all toilets within an entire department. Some temporary repair measures, including acid flushes to remove calcium buildup, can only be conducted while docked in U.S. shipyards, making at-sea fixes limited.

An internal email dated March 18, 2025, from the engineering department stated there were 205 toilet breakdowns in four days. Reports indicate the issues have been building for more than a year, with mounting strain on remaining operational facilities as others fail.

The ship has been operating for months in waters near Venezuela, supporting U.S. actions described as involving the abduction of the country’s president and the seizure of oil-carrying vessels. It is now reportedly heading a planned regime change operation in Iran, where Israel is reported to want a pro-Benjamin Netanyahu leader installed.

Onboard tensions have grown between sailors and sewage system specialists known as Hull Technicians. One sewage engineering head has reportedly complained that the ship’s sewage system was being mistreated and damaged by sailors on a daily basis, and that Hull Technicians were working 19 hours a day to keep up with the demand.