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| - Misleading: Media used unrelated old images to illustrate USS Gerald R. Ford sewage woes
Videos (here and here) shared on X and Sina on Feb. 24 purportedly show major sewage overflows and a “fecal crisis” on USS Gerald R. Ford, the U.S. aircraft carrier deployed to the Mediterranean amid heightened regional tensions.
Some similar posts further claimed the situation forced the aircraft carrier to dock at a U.S. naval base in Crete, Greece, for emergency repairs.
Multiple Chinese-language media, including Xiaoyang Video of CCTV, Changjiangyun of Hubei TV News, Chinese Business View, AM730, Hong Kong China News Agency, and Phoenix TV, reported on the news of toilet failure using screenshots taken from the same unverified video.
Former editor-in-chief of Global Times Hu Xijin also shared Xiaoyang’s video on Weibo. While AM730 noted that the images came from unverified posts on X, other news outlets did not include a disclaimer.
However, the four video clips used in social media posts and news coverage were all originally posted years before the recent reports about the USS Ford’s plumbing.
While some of the old clips appear to show plumbing failures on aircraft carriers, the specific ship in each case cannot be confirmed. As of this writing, there are no verified photos or videos showing the extent of the Ford’s sewage problems.
U.S. public broadcaster NPR first reported in January on sewage system breakdown aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford, citing internal communications that blamed a faulty vacuum toilet system design adapted from cruise ships.
Follow-up reports by news outlets such as The Wall Street Journal and military-focused Task & Purpose have described toilet malfunctions and maintenance issues, none has included photos or videos of the ship’s interior.
The U.S. Navy, in a Feb. 26 statement (archived here), acknowledged sanitation system issues but said clogs were addressed quickly, with “minimal downtime” and “no impact to operational readiness,” without offering further specifics. To date, apart from that press release, the Navy has not released any photos or footage related to plumbing maintenance aboard the Ford.
Annie Lab identified the four main clips featured in the viral posts and found that all predate the current USS Ford sewage coverage. Our findings are consistent with An-Nahar’s Feb. 24 fact-check, which also concluded that the first three videos were old and taken out of context (archived here).
Video 1: A Taco Bell drive-through restroom
The earliest version (archived here) of this video we found was posted on TikTok on June 23, 2023, by a U.S. emergency plumbing business, which attributed the overflow to a backed-up city sewer line.
A longer version (archived here) uploaded by the same account in 2025 shows a Taco Bell drive-through sign at 0:15, indicating the footage was shot in a restaurant restroom, not an aircraft carrier.
Video 2: At least five years old, claimed to be from USS Ronald Reagan (unverified)
Another video used to illustrate alleged sewage overflows on the Ford was found in a TikTok post on Jan. 28, 2023, by a user who describes himself as a Naval Engineer Officer in San Diego, California (archived here).
Lebanese newspaper An-Nahar traced the same video to an earlier post on April 30, 2021 (archived here) by another TikTok user who identifies himself as a U.S. Navy member, who said in the comments that the ship was the USS Ronald Reagan, a claim Annie Lab could not independently verify.
Video 3: Possibly USS Essex (unverified) filmed as early as 2021
This widely shared still image shows a person in a camouflage uniform mopping up wastewater in what appears to be inside a naval ship.
It is in fact a screenshot from a TikTok video (archived here) posted on July 21, 2021. Its caption reads, “Join the navy they said, it be fun they said” with no further context.
In another post, the same user indicated that between February 2019 and November 2025, the only vessel she served aboard was the USS Essex, suggesting (not proving) that the scene was filmed there.
Video 4: Old footage from an unidentified naval ship
The fourth clip, showing liquid spraying from pipes on what looks like a naval vessel, can be found in a longer, higher-resolution version uploaded by a Weibo military blogger seven years ago (archived here).
The video is labeled only as a sewage problem on a warship, with no verifiable details about the ship’s identity or location.
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