Check 1 and 2 (Verbatim Priority/Extraction Fidelity): The verbatim quote is the operative text. All five material factual predicates in the verbatim are confirmed by the CENTCOM Tier 1 primary record and multiple corroborating outlets: (1) carrier-based — the F/A-18 launched from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72); (2) F-18 — the Super Hornet is universally abbreviated as 'F-18' in broadcast shorthand, constituting statutory compression that is immaterial per methodology; (3) 'strafed' — 20mm M61 Vulcan cannon fire from a fixed-wing aircraft is textbook strafing, confirmed accurate; (4) Iranian-flagged oil tanker — confirmed, M/T Hasna; (5) 'failed to comply with repeated warnings' — matches CENTCOM's verbatim language exactly. The word 'crippled' requires assessment under Check 6 (Plain-Language Priority for Outcome Claims): CENTCOM confirmed the rudder was disabled and the ship could no longer transit to Iran. 'Crippled' is a stronger term than 'disabled,' but per the directional understatement standard in the immaterial imprecision section, describing a confirmed event less severely than source material is immaterial when every stated fact is confirmed and the understatement does not mischaracterize the nature of the event — here the opposite dynamic applies (slight overstatement of severity), but the directional meaning is identical: the ship was operationally stopped. The ship was in fact rendered incapable of completing its voyage, which is consistent with 'crippled' in plain-language usage. Gate 1 nominated MOSTLY_TRUE partly on this basis, but the primary institutional record does not contradict the plain-language reading — a ship whose rudder is disabled and which cannot continue its transit to its destination is reasonably described as crippled. The segment_topic framing ('Strait of Hormuz blockade') is contextual background, not an element of the verbatim claim, and therefore does not affect verdict assessment. Source_strength is capped at MEDIUM due to active military operations domain constraint and single-origin sourcing, but the Tier 1 CENTCOM source meets the minimum source requirement for TRUE (≥1 Tier 1-3 source). No corrections found.

Methodology note: The TRUE/MOSTLY_TRUE boundary here turns on whether 'crippled' constitutes an 'identifiable inaccuracy' under the MOSTLY_TRUE standard. Per methodology, directional understatement of a confirmed event is immaterial when every stated fact is confirmed — the inverse case (slight severity overstatement) has no explicit category, but the functional test is the same: does 'crippled' mischaracterize the nature of the event? Because the ship was in fact operationally stopped and could not complete its voyage, 'crippled' captures the functional reality even if technically less precise than 'rudder disabled.' Editors should apply independent judgment on whether they consider 'crippled' close enough to the institutional record to sustain TRUE or prefer MOSTLY_TRUE on precision grounds. The domain constraint (single-origin, active military operations) is separately noted and reflected in the MEDIUM source_strength and MEDIUM verdict_confidence.