The €17 Souvlaki: Souda Bay’s Expensive Welcome for the USS Gerald R. Ford

USS Gerald Ford was successful Crete for repairs aft a occurrence broke retired connected committee during operations successful the Red Sea. Credit: Wikimedia Commons / US Navy / Public Domain

Although the USS Gerald R. Ford’s enactment astatine Souda Bay, Crete,  was brief, its thousands of sailors inactive managed a sensation of Greece, astatine a staggering premium.

Forced into larboard for repairs pursuing a 30-hour laundry country occurrence successful the Middle East, the unit was barred from leaving the dock for information reasons. To span the gap, section entrepreneurs established a makeshift nutrient marketplace straight connected the K-14 pier.

Souvlaki astatine a premium

According to zarpanews.gr, the prima of this pop-up marketplace was the classic souvlaki wrap, which was sold to the “trapped” sailors for an eye-watering €17 each (almost $20), a terms astir 4 to 5 times the nationalist average. Despite the terms tag, the pita-gyros were an instant sell-out.

While immoderate mightiness telephone it terms gouging, section analysts suggest this “economic humor transfusion” explains wherefore galore residents invited the U.S. 6th Fleet’s visits, careless of their governmental stance.

For the sailors—exhausted from a ten-month deployment and months of plumbing issues—the accidental to commercialized vessel rations for a €17 sensation of Crete was seemingly a terms they were consenting to pay.

While successful Souda Bay, Forward Deployed Regional Maintenance Center personnel, including structural engineers, naval architects, and different taxable substance experts, conducted a repair assessment, and subject and national civilian instrumentality enforcement continued investigations into the fire.