The crew aboard the United States' newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has reported increasing frustration due to design flaws causing regular failures in the ship's toilet system. The $13 billion carrier has been deployed for seven months since leaving Norfolk in June and is currently operating in the Caribbean.
The General Accountability Office (GAO) reported in 2020 that the ship's Vacuum Collection, Holding and Transfer (VCHT) system was undersized and poorly designed. This system, which was adopted in part from the cruise ship industry for its water efficiency, has continued to experience breakdowns during the deployment, affecting the 4,600 sailors on board. Problems with the VCHT system have been reported since the carrier's initial deployment in 2023, with increasing frequency.
According to Navy documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, a trouble call related to the VCHT system has been made daily since June 2023 when the entire crew is present. The carrier has requested external assistance 42 times since 2023, with 32 calls occurring in 2025 and 12 during the current deployment which began in June. An email from the engineering department on March 18, 2025, indicated 205 breakdowns in four days, stating that sailors responsible for sewage system maintenance (hull maintenance technicians or HTs) were working 19 hours a day to manage the demand.
Issues identified include blockages caused by foreign objects like t-shirts, rope, brown paper towels, and commercial toilet paper due to the narrow vacuum pipes. A common problem involves a valve at the back of the toilets becoming loose, leading to a loss of suction in one of 10 zones. The most expensive problem is calcium build-ups in narrow pipes, particularly in lower decks. The 2020 GAO report estimated a cost of $400,000 for an acid flush to restore the system, and the ship has undergone this procedure at least 10 times since 2023, a process that can only be performed in port.
The engineering department has communicated with the A1B Propulsion Plant Planning Yard at Newport News Shipbuilding regarding the issues. The planning yard, part of Huntington Ingalls Industries, which constructs Ford-Class carriers, indicated that a temporary resolution might be offered until a full system redesign could be funded in the future.
The Navy has acknowledged the VCHT system's issues for over a decade. A similar vacuum system on the USS George H.W. Bush, a Nimitz-Class carrier, experienced comparable problems in 2013. The USS Gerald R. Ford is scheduled for VCHT system improvements during upcoming maintenance periods, with the Navy stating that similar upgrades on CVN 77 (USS George H.W. Bush) led to fewer maintenance problems. While an average outage duration is reported to be between 30 minutes and two hours, a Fleet Forces Command spokesman stated that the problems have had "no operational impact."
Experts suggest a long-term fix is not anticipated within the current year. Shelby Oakley, director of the GAO, noted that asking sailors to live in such conditions is regrettable. Bryan Clark of the Hudson Institute commented that adopting a sewage system from commercial cruise ships for a nuclear-powered warship, designed for months at sea, might have been a design error. The USS Ford was already the most expensive ship built by the Navy, incorporating unproven new technologies that contributed to increased costs and delayed delivery.