Both the NPR and WSJ reports said that there are now a few working toilets for the roughly 5,000 sailors on board, 45-minute lines, and a vacuum system that cannot be fixed without returning to the dockyards.

While the US Navy has not suggested that the plumbing problems affect combat readiness, the juxtaposition of extended deployment, high operational tempo and malfunctioning toilets has captured the internet’s imagination.

Captured the what now