Major plumbing headache haunts $13 billion U.S. carrier off the coast of Venezuela

Steve Walsh | January 17, 2026

New documents show the crew on board the United States’ newest aircraft carrier are growing increasingly frustrated by design flaws that lead to regular failures in the ship’s toilet system.

The USS Gerald R. Ford has been deployed for seven months since it left Norfolk in June. The carrier is currently at the center of the Trump administration’s flotilla of Navy ships in the Caribbean. Since the raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, the carrier continues to work with the Coast Guard as the U.S. interdicts oil tankers tied to Venezuela.

On board the carrier, the crew is battling a toilet system that the General Accountability Office reported in 2020 was undersized and poorly designed. The system continues to fail during deployment, forcing the crew of 4,600 sailors to live with a system that randomly breaks down during their months at sea.

NPR has obtained documents that include a series of emails that detail the ship’s effort to grapple with the breakdowns. Problems with the Vacuum Collection, Holding and Transfer (VCHT) system increased in 2025. The vacuum system was adopted in part from the cruise ship industry. It uses less water, but the system used by USS Ford is more complex. Breakdowns have been reported since the $13 billion carrier first deployed in 2023.

“Every day that the entire crew is present on the ship, a trouble call has been made for ship’s force personnel to repair or unclog a portion of the VCHT system, since June 2023,” reads an undated document provided by the Navy, through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

The carrier has called for help outside the ship 42 times since 2023. The rate of calls is increasing, with 32 calls happening in 2025;12 calls were made after the carrier started its recent deployment in June.

A March 18, 2025 email from the engineering department sent out to all chiefs on the ship said there were 205 breakdowns in four days. The sailors who work on the sewage system, called hull maintenance technicians (HTs), fell behind in the months leading up to USS Ford’s scheduled deployment.

“Our sewage system is being mistreated and destroyed by Sailors on a daily basis. My HT’s are currently working 19 hours a day right now trying to keep up with the demand,” according to the email.

The average age on the USS Ford is similar to a college campus. For many of the sailors, this is their first extended time away from home. At times the emails almost evoke a floating dorm room, revealing that everything from t-shirts to a four-foot piece of rope have been removed from the system. The vacuum pipes are narrow. Brown paper towels and even commercial toilet paper also cause breakdowns. The most common problem is a valve at the back of the toilets that can be knocked loose and cause all of the toilets (which the Navy calls heads) in one of 10 zones to lose suction.

“FYI, if you need to use the head, go now. At 13:30, expect the system to come down for about two hours. We are looking for a vacuum leak in zone 6,” reads a March 18 email from the chief engineer on USS Ford.

A month after the carrier left Norfolk July 24, 2025, initially bound for Europe and the Mediterranean, the mother of a sailor contacted NPR to complain about the unsanitary conditions on the carrier. Around the same time, emails from USS Ford show the executive officer on the Ford was demanding answers from the engineering department about breakdowns.

The most expensive problem is calcium build-ups, which clog narrow pipes, especially in the lower decks of the ship. The 2020 GAO report said the Navy spends $400,000 for an acid flush to restore the system. A document showed the ship has been acid flushed at least 10 times since 2023. The work can only be done in port. A month after USS Ford left Norfolk, the engineering department was struggling to explain the problem to leadership.

“That’s just the nature of VCHT. It’s a closed system and thousands of components ship-wide that fail daily. With one commode control valve failure, depending on the location brings down the entire zone,” according to an Aug. 15, 2025 email from the engineering department.

The crew has been reaching out to the A1B Propulsion Plant Planning Yard at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia for answers, according to an email chain between the carrier and the planning yard. The planning yard is part of Huntington Ingalls Industries, which is the only shipyard in the world that builds Ford Class aircraft carriers. The Navy’s In-Service Aircraft Carrier Program Office (PMS312) is responsible for maintaining the carriers.

“What we want to do is give you a temporary resolution to get your heads into a somewhat functional use until such time 10+ years down the road when PMS312 finally gets around to paying for a redesign,” reads a July 24 email back to the carrier from the planning yard.

Longstanding problem

Whenever USS Ford wraps up its assignments in the Caribbean, the carrier is scheduled to go into maintenance this year at the Navy’s public shipyard, Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia, according to the emails. The Navy has known the system is undersized and riddled with issues for more than a decade. A similar vacuum system was installed on the last Nimitz-Class carrier USS George HW Bush. In 2013, the carrier experienced similar problems, with toilets going off line.

The Navy said Ford will eventually be given an upgrade.

“GRF (USS Gerald R. Ford) is scheduled to receive VCHT system improvements in upcoming maintenance availabilities. Similar upgrades on CVN 77 (the carrier USS George HW Bush) have resulted in fewer VCHT maintenance issues,” Lt. Cmdr. David Carter, spokesman for Fleet Forces Command said in a statement to NPR.

The trail of emails provided through the Navy ends in August, before USS Ford sailed for the Caribbean in November to be part of the build up of U.S. forces around Venezuela.

Without providing details, Carter said the problems with the toilets have gotten better as the deployment continues. The average outage is between half an hour and two hours and the problems have had “no operational impact,” he said.

Experts say a long-term fix is not expected this year.

Problems with the carrier’s waste system were known well before it was given to the Navy. Part of the solution may include putting more sailors on board the ship to keep up with the repairs, though the ship was actually designed to require fewer sailors to operate it than older Nimitz carriers, said Shelby Oakley, director of GAO.

“It’s important to kind of think about, like we’re asking you sailors to live in these conditions,” she said. “We should at least be able to provide them with living facilities, to be able to not have to kind of struggle in that regard. And it’s unfortunate that this is where we’re at.”

The carrier USS Ford was already the most expensive ship ever built by the Navy. It is stacked with new technology and many of the systems had not been proven in the field, which drove up the cost and delayed its delivery to the Navy. Borrowing the sewage system from commercial cruise ships may have been a mistake, said Bryan Clark with the Hudson Institute.

“Maybe this is an example where they should have kept the old system rather than going after the new technology,” Clark said.

A cruise ship has a very different mission from a nuclear-powered warship, which is designed to remain at sea for months. It is a cautionary tale, as the Trump administration looks at increasing the pace of ship building, including a proposed battleship that would have potentially even more systems that have not been tested in the field, Clark said.

Transcript:

JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:

The USS Gerald R. Ford has been deployed for seven months. It’s part of the Trump administration’s buildup of forces in the Caribbean, but there is a problem on board the aircraft carrier, and it is getting worse. Steve Walsh with WHRO in Norfolk is here to explain. Hi.

STEVE WALSH, BYLINE: Hi, Juana.

SUMMERS: So, Steve, what’s the problem?

WALSH: Well, in a word, the toilets. Back in July, I was contacted by the mother of a sailor on board USS Ford. She was concerned about sanitary conditions on the carrier, which had just deployed from its home port in Norfolk in June. A number of toilets were out of commission, and she wanted to know why. NPR has obtained documents that include a series of emails that detail the ship’s effort to grapple with the breakdowns.

SUMMERS: I mean, that’s a reasonable question, and it seems like a serious problem, especially with the Ford being a part of this military buildup, as we mentioned, as the administration applies pressure on Venezuela.

WALSH: That’s right. So that just makes it all the more urgent. To be blunt, it’s hard for 4,600 sailors to spend weeks and months on a ship without fully functioning toilets. USS Ford is the U.S.’ newest aircraft carrier. It cost $13 billion, and it includes a number of new systems that hadn’t been fully tested on Navy warships. The vacuum sewage system was borrowed in part from the cruise ship industry. It uses less water. But cruise ships are very different from warships, and the crew is struggling to keep up with repairs.

SUMMERS: So that mother that you heard from wasn’t imagining things. Seriously, how bad is it?

WALSH: It’s pretty bad. According to an email from the engineering department sent in March, sailors were working 19 hours a day to track down and fix leaks. The email references 205 calls in less than four days. Toilets, which the Navy calls heads, can go down for hours in parts of the ship. Once the carrier finally left Norfolk in June, the problem seemed to have gotten worse. In July and August, there are increasingly heated discussions between leadership and the engineering department. Since it’s a vacuum system, a problem with one head can cause all of the toilets in that part of the ship to lose suction, making it difficult for the maintenance crews to isolate a problem. The crews find everything from T-shirts to a four-foot piece of rope clogging the system. But the most common problem seems to be a part of the back of the toilet that comes loose.

SUMMERS: OK. And you said that the Navy’s known about this problem for years. So, I mean, obvious question maybe, but why don’t they fix it?

WALSH: Right. So cost is a big factor. The Navy knew about the issue before the carrier was even finished. A 2020 General Accountability Office report says the Navy has a temporary solution to clean the pipes with an acid flush, which costs $400,000 each time it’s used. Documents we received show the Ford has done this at least 10 times since 2023. It can’t be done while the ship is deployed, though, so the crew has been power washing areas with calcium, and sludge departments – and sludge buildups are happening.

So without offering specifics, the Navy said in a statement that the carrier has seen a decrease in issues as the Ford deployment continues. A long-term solution is expected to be expensive and years away. And, Juana, experts tell NPR that this is one of many cautionary tales for the Navy as the administration looks at designing a new battleship with lasers and railguns and other unproven technology.

SUMMERS: Steve Walsh with WHRO, thank you.

WALSH: Thanks, Juana.