WSJ boards the "Vampire Carrier" as it reloads for possible Iran strikes

Shelby Holliday's report from the Arabian Sea shows bunker-buster bombs and standoff missiles coming aboard the USS George Washington, which U.S. officials say is preparing in case President Trump orders new attacks.

Channel: The Wall Street Journal Story of October 25, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? One of The Wall Street Journal's most watched videos since yesterday, with 544,959 views.

How the USS George Washington Is Preparing for Possible Iran Escalation | WSJ

The flight deck of the USS George Washington works through the night, and Shelby Holliday opens her report in the middle of it, jets launching and landing around her. "It's incredibly hot, it's incredibly loud. It's orchestrated, but it's chaos," says The Wall Street Journal's national security correspondent. The overnight schedule has earned the ship a nickname: the "Vampire Carrier."

The Journal says it was given a rare visit to the carrier and the guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup in the Arabian Sea. According to U.S. officials familiar with the planning, American warships in the region are preparing for an escalation in case President Trump opts for a fresh round of attacks on Iran in the coming weeks. The ship's location was not disclosed.

The center of the report is the resupply. Cdr. Brian Garcia, the carrier's weapons officer, or "gun boss," shows a replenishment at sea and then leads Holliday through the magazines. The Journal reports a large delivery of standoff land-attack missiles and bunker-buster bombs built to penetrate targets underground. "We don't need to ramp up because we're already prepared," Garcia says.

The report places this in context with archival footage of recent U.S. strikes on Iranian sites and oil tankers, which followed Iranian attacks on naval and commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. It also includes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying the U.S. wants to make sure "Iran never gets a nuclear weapon," along with a Journal headline about his extension of Mideast deployments into 2027.

The sailors get time on screen as well. "It's not a cruise. It's not luxury," says Operations Specialist Carly Moya of the Shoup. In the closing section, Rear Adm. Jeffrey Heames, who commands the strike group, addresses morale and concerns raised during earlier carrier deployments.

The video has drawn about 545,000 views since yesterday, making it the Journal's most watched new upload. Comments arrived roughly five times faster than on the channel's usual first day. Many viewers question the "rare access" framing and point out that other outlets carried similar reports. Others ask what the deployment costs each day.

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WSJ boards the "Vampire Carrier" as it reloads for possible Iran strikes The full story on Trari: https://trari.com/en/story/wsj-17134/

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The numbers

The carrier report leads the Journal's new uploads, and its comment section filled much faster than usual.

subscribers

6,720,000

▲ 10,000 in the last 7 days

total views

2,656,648,807

views per day

739,001

typical day: 1,270,379

the video

views

544,959

likes

3,827

comments

781

days online

1

subscribers: this channel and similar channels

CBS News

7,110,000

60 Minutes Australia

6,750,000

The Wall Street Journal

6,720,000

The Sun

6,550,000

DW News

6,480,000

News24

6,270,000

As of October 25, 2026 · Data source: Trari Social News, Trari Traffic Trends and Ranking Platform, Google YouTube

Subscriber, view, like and comment counts are YouTube's. Rates, usual days, rankings, comparisons and categories are Trari's own calculations.