Monday, January 19, 2026- The USS Gerald R. Ford — the U.S. Navy’s most expensive aircraft carrier, valued at about $13 billion is facing persistent plumbing system failures during its deployment near the coast of Venezuela, according to Navy documents and crew reports.
The ship’s Vacuum Collection, Holding and Transfer (VCHT) sewage system, adapted from commercial cruise ship technology, has been breaking down frequently, forcing sailors to contend with unpredictable outages and ongoing maintenance issues. These malfunctions have been occurring since the carrier’s first deployment in 2023 and have only increased during its current mission.
Crew emails obtained through Freedom of Information Act requests reveal frequent trouble calls to repair or unclog parts of the VCHT system, with hundreds of breakdowns reported over short periods.
Sailors working on the system have been logging long hours just to keep the toilets known in naval terms as “heads” functional, while clogged pipes and defective valves have disrupted daily life aboard the vessel. Acid flushes to clear blockages, which can only be done in port, have been necessary multiple times, highlighting the severity and recurring nature of the problem.
The Navy acknowledges the design issues and plans to upgrade the VCHT system during future maintenance periods, but experts say a long‑term fix isn’t expected this year. Meanwhile, the crew continues to manage the system’s shortcomings at sea, with officials noting that outages generally last between 30 minutes and two hours and have had no reported operational impact.
The situation illustrates how even state‑of‑the‑art naval technology can face practical challenges when adapted from commercial designs for extended military deployments.
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