How a French officer accidentally leaked the position of the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle with a simple jog on the ship's deck

The daily Le Monde was able to find out exactly where the French attack group is in the Mediterranean from the simple fact that the young officer recorded and published his sports activities on the public account of the Strava app.

A French officer on the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle leaked the real-time position of his ship and the entire strike group in the Mediterranean via the sports activity tracking app Strava.

Le Monde writes that the officer ran seven kilometers in a circle on the ship's deck one morning, an activity recorded by his wristwatch and published on Strava.

Because the profile on the app was set to “public”, anyone could consult it, to find out that the aircraft carrier and the escort were located northwest of Cyprus, about a hundred kilometers from the Turkish coast, Le Monde found.

A dangerous imprudence

The presence in the region of the French battle group, composed of at least three frigates and a refueling ship, which accompany the aircraft carrier, is not a secret. The group's passage through the Strait of Gibraltar was announced on March 6.

However, the fact remains that broadcasting the exact position of the naval group, almost in real time and publicly on the Internet, constitutes a dangerous imprudence in the context of the war in the Near East, writes Le Monde.

This is all the more so since, in recent weeks, at least two French military bases in the region have been hit by Iranian attacks, with one French soldier killed and six others wounded in northern Iraq.

As the French daily noted, through the officer's Strava account, anyone can track the movements of the Charles-de-Gaulle group.

On February 14, a “jogging” on the ship, offshore, located the officer off the coast of France, on February 26 and 27, he was on land in Copenhagen. And on March 13, the young man was northwest of Cyprus. An information that can be verified a few days later, when images of this area of ​​the Eastern Mediterranean, captured by satellites, are available.

The command promises appropriate measures

Contacted by journalists, the General Staff of the Armed Forces stated that the publication of the ships' route on the Strava application “does not comply with the instructions in force” imposed on sailors.

Officials assured that “the command will take appropriate action”, with “combatant digital hygiene” being part of the “preliminary requirements before any deployment”.

But the officer in question is not the only sailor Le Monde was able to identify on Strava.

Aboard a Navy ship on mission in recent days, at least one other public profile posts localized sports activities and, with them, the location of the ship.

Public profiles also feature photos of the deck, other military personnel, or even sports equipment inside the ships.