Three sailors sustained injuries following a fire aboard the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) while it was undergoing a maintenance period at Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth.
A Navy spokesperson confirmed to USNI News that a small fire had broken out on board the carrier. The spokesperson told the outlet that the sailors were treated by the ship’s medical team and have since returned to full duty.
“On April 14, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower experienced a small fire that was immediately contained and extinguished by ship’s force and Norfolk Navy Shipyard personnel, who responded swiftly as trained.
“Three Sailors were treated by ship’s medical and returned to full duty,” the Navy spokesperson told USNI News.
The aircraft carrier has been docked at the Navy’s publicly operated Virginia-based shipyard for 16 months.
This comes after two sailors were injured when a fire broke out aboard the USS Gerald Ford, an aircraft carrier deployed to the Iran war. The U.S. military confirmed that the carrier suffered a non-combat-related fire in the ship’s main laundry area.
The Ford is the newest aircraft carrier in the U.S. fleet and the largest in the world. It is crewed by more than 5,000 sailors and has the capacity to carry more than 75 military aircraft.
It has been deployed for more than nine consecutive months, having previously been dispatched to the Caribbean Sea to support operations in Venezuela.
The injured sailors were treated for non-life-threatening wounds and were reported to be in a stable condition, according to the U.S. military.
“There is no damage to the ship’s propulsion plant, and the aircraft carrier remains fully operational,” the military said.