Was an aircraft carrier with 38 military jets deployed to the Suez Canal to the scene of the grounded container ship that conspiracy theorists claim was carrying trafficked children and nuclear weapons? No, that's not true: Lead Stories found the post's photo -- which was taken 30 years ago -- of the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in the National Archives. Caption information stored with the photo shows it was taken on August 22, 1990, when the USS Eisenhower was deployed in support of Operation Desert Shield.
The claim originated in a post (archived here) where it was published on March 28, 2021. The photo was captioned:
Approximately 38 military jets on a carrier heading down the Suez Canal towards a stuck container ship suspected of carrying trafficked children and nuclear weapons.Fun times.What could possibly happen?
This is what the post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Mon Mar 29 14:30:23 2021 UTC)
This Department of Defense photo by Navy photographer PH3 Frank A. Marquart is cataloged in the National Archives, and titled, "The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN-69) transits the Suez Canal en route to the Mediterranean Sea following a deployment in support of Operation Desert Shield."
The Ever Given container ship, after being stuck for six days in the canal, was refloated on March 29, 2021.
The MV EVER GIVEN was fully re-floated and straight in SC Passage at 14:50 lt. 29/03/2021. The vessel is heading to the Great Bitter Lakes for further checking and investigation. Next the vessels in the Great Bitter Lakes will proceed heading to Suez. pic.twitter.com/mqtUnKZ9C6
-- Inchcape Shipping (@Inchcape_SS) March 29, 2021
Lead Stories recently addressed other unsubstantiated QAnon conspiracy claims that the ship Ever Given was associated with human trafficking and Hillary Clinton.
