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The location of the "Charles de Gaulle" was apparently revealed by the Strava app.
KEYSTONE/AP/Lionel Cironneau
A harmless running workout becomes a security risk: a French naval officer unintentionally published the location of an aircraft carrier via the fitness app Strava, in the middle of a military operation.
A mistake with consequences: A young French naval officer is said to have forgotten to deactivate the Strava tracking app - apparently making it publicly visible where he was and therefore where the French Navy's aircraft carrier and flagship were in the Mediterranean. A report in the newspaper "Le Monde " revealed this mistake in the middle of the war against Iran.
The officer had published a 36-minute running workout on his public Strava profile. The app is used by 120 million people and allows runners and cyclists to record their training sessions online and share them with others.
According to data available to "Le Monde", the sailor logged a run of more than 7 kilometers with his smartwatch at around 10.30 a.m. on 13 March - on the ship's deck, which is around 260 meters long. The recorded data indicated that the aircraft carrier was located northwest of Cyprus, around 100 kilometers off the Turkish coast.
The incident was apparently not an isolated case. The location of the French aircraft carrier "Charles de Gaulle" could be tracked for weeks via the sailor's publicly accessible Strava profile.
The recorded routes located the ship off the Cotentin peninsula at the end of February, later briefly in Copenhagen and northwest of Cyprus in mid-March.
It was this last position that "Le Monde" is said to have additionally checked with satellite images that became available a little later from the eastern Mediterranean region. The 262-metre-long carrier was clearly visible on these images and its position largely matched the sailor's GPS track. The Strava profile repeatedly shows circular tracks in the middle of the sea.
According to the report, at least three French Navy warships and a supply ship are in the region with the aircraft carrier. Meanwhile, France is already planning a new mega aircraft carrier.
Emmanuel Macron personally ordered the deployment on March 3. At that time, the only French aircraft carrier was still on NATO exercises in the Baltic Sea and was supposed to remain there until May. On March 6, it was then announced that the ship would pass through the Strait of Gibraltar.
The deployment of the "Charles de Gaulle" is not considered top secret. However, the publication of exact position data poses a considerable security risk. Iran and its allies, including the Lebanese Hezbollah, repeatedly fire missiles at Western military bases.
Two French bases have already been hit in this context. One French soldier was killed and six others were injured. At the time of the recorded cover run, the attack by the USA and Israel against Iran had already been going on for around two weeks.
