The USS Gerald R. Ford’s already long deployment will be “record-breaking” and “probably go into the 11th month of deployed operations,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle said on Tuesday.
“For those that are not in the Navy, that’s an extraordinary thing to even think about something of that kind of deployment length,” Caudle said while speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington, D.C. “So my hat’s off to the Ford.”
The aircraft carrier has been underway since last June, and its deployment was extended in February so that it could take part in the U.S. military’s campaign against Iran, which began on Feb. 28.
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No additional information was immediately available about when the Ford might return home. Vice Chief of Naval Operations Adm. James Kilby told lawmakers earlier this month that the carrier was expected to remain at sea for 11 months.
If the Ford and its crew end up spending 11 months away from home, it would mark one of the longest carrier deployments since the end of the Vietnam War. The USS Nimitz returned home in 2021 after spending 341 days at sea during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to that, the USS Abraham Lincoln deployed for 294 days between 2019 and 2020.
After leaving Norfolk, Virginia, in late June, the Ford was dispatched to the Caribbean as part of operations to capture Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife in January. More recently, the Ford has supported U.S. military operations against Iran along with the Lincoln.
It has been a difficult deployment for the Ford, with the crew facing a series of problems, from persistent issues with the ship’s toilets to a fire that broke out in the ship’s main laundry spaces on March 12 and destroyed more than 100 crew members’ beds.
Caudle noted on Tuesday that the Ford began flying sorties again just two days after the fire, adding, “I’m very proud of that crew.”
Following the blaze, the Ford sailed to Naval Support Activity Souda Bay in Crete for repairs and then to Croatia.
“She’s gonna be back on station again here soon, on some much-deserved leave,” Caudle said.
His comments come as the aircraft carrier USS George H. Bush and its strike group left Norfolk on Tuesday. The carrier strike group will head to the Middle East to support operations against Iran, a U.S. official confirmed to Task & Purpose for a previous story. It is unclear whether the Bush is intended to replace the Ford or Lincoln.
