Oof...

This is double plus ungood...

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — A U.S. Navy replenishment ship operating in the Middle East sustained damage in an incident which is under investigation, officials said Tuesday.

The damage to the oiler Big Horn comes after the oiler has supplied the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and remains in the region amid heightened tensions over the Israel-Hamas war and Israel’s ongoing strikes targeting Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Full article, HERE from Navy Times, and HERE from Stars and Stripes.

This poses major problems, as it appears this is the ONLY oiler supporting 5th Fleet right now. And the ship is apparently under tow to Dubai.

Without an oiler, the carrier can't get fuel for the jets to fly, nor can the 'small boys' in the battle group get bunker fuel, limiting what they can do, how far/fast they can go, and limits the entire 5th Fleet's response to ongoing 'issues' in the region.

Pulling an oiler from another location is neither fast nor without a domino effect from wherever they get one. Probably the 'minimum' transit time is 9-10 days from Singapore, or 5-6 days from the Med.

This is on top of the issues MSC is already having crewing ships and their 'plan' to lay up 17 ships due to lack of crews.

If it wasn't for bad luck, 5th Fleet wouldn't have any! And this is really NOT the time that an oiler/fuel needs to be an issue...