EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY: US Navy Oiler Runs Aground, Forcing Carrier Strike Group to Scramble for Fuel.

gCaptain has received multiple reports that the US Navy oiler USNS Big Horn ran aground yesterday and partially flooded off the coast of Oman, leaving the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group without its primary fuel source.

First reported on the gCaptain forum and by maritime historian Sal Mercogliano, a leaked video and photos show damage to the ship’s rudder post and water flooding into a mechanical space. US Navy vessels don’t typically transmit AIS signals, so we don’t know the exact location of the ship. However, unconfirmed rumors claim she’s currently being towed to Dubai for repairs.

Compounding the problem is the fact that the Big Horn is the only oiler the Navy has in the Middle East. One shipowner told gCaptain that the Navy is scrambling to find a commercial oil tanker to take its place and deliver jet fuel to the USS Abraham Lincoln.

We have too few oilers, without which a multibillion-dollar nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is just an oddly flat ship.