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How a navy officer's daily workout leaked French aircraft carrier's location
French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle
UPDATED: Mar 20, 2026 07:42 IST
A French naval officer’s routine workout inadvertently revealed the location of one of France’s most sensitive military assets in the Middle East in the midst of a full-blown conflict.
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 Turkey’s coast. France had announced the carrier’s deployment on March 3, shortly after 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.
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Published By:
Devika Bhattacharya
Published On:
Mar 20, 2026 07:42 IST
