A French sailor accidentally compromised the location of the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle by logging his workout on the fitness app Strava. The app’s geolocation feature allowed real-time tracking of the carrier and its fleet.
A French naval officer’s routine workout inadvertently revealed the location of one of France’s most sensitive military assets in the midst of a full-blown conflict in the Middle East.
According to French daily Le Monde, a young sailor onboard the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle logged a 36-minute exercise session on the public fitness app Strava. Little did he know that this seemingly harmless action would broadcast the vessel’s precise position in the Mediterranean Sea.
The data placed the carrier northwest of Cyprus, roughly 100 kilometres from the coast of Turkey. France had announced the carrier’s deployment on March 3, shortly after the US and Israel’s joint strikes on Iran.
Strava, used by about 120 million people worldwide, allows users to share geolocated fitness activities such as runs and cycling routes. In this case, the publicly accessible entry made it possible to track not just the individual’s movement but also the location of the carrier and its accompanying fleet in near real time.
Le Monde said it corroborated the information using satellite imagery captured shortly after the workout, which showed the distinctive outline of the 262-metre-long nuclear-powered vessel in the same area.
France’s Armed Forces General Staff acknowledged the lapse, telling the outlet that posting such activity did not comply with operational digital security rules. It added that “appropriate measures will be taken by the command”.
This wasn’t a one-off incident. Le Monde identified at least one other crew member on active deployment who had shared geolocated fitness activity online, from photos of the ship’s deck, to fellow sailors and onboard equipment.
Meanwhile, despite US President Donald Trump’s appeals to secure the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil and gas shipping route controlled by Iran, France remained non-committal.
“We are willing to do something to free the Strait of Hormuz, provided that this is not a war situation anymore. Nobody wants to go across the Strait of Hormuz if there’s a risk of missiles or drones going on your head,” French Finance Minister Roland Lescure told CNBC.
Amid concerns over disrupted global supplies, European powers have shown limited appetite to expand their military role in the region, mostly paying lip service while unwilling to be dragged into the US-Israeli war on Iran.
