Carrier USS Ford On Track for Record-Breaking 11 Month Deployment
The U.S. Navy expects the carrier USS Gerald R. Ford's marathon deployment to last about 11 months, approaching an all-time record set in the Vietnam War.
Ford got under way from Norfolk on June 24, 2025 for a routine deployment to Europe. In November, she cut her scheduled time in 6th Fleet short and made a dash for the Caribbean, providing support for the pressure campaign on the government of then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro (and his eventual capture). In mid-February, the carrier redeployed for the Mediterranean. In March, as part of hostilities with Tehran, she began strike missions against Iranian targets from a station in the northern Red Sea.
On March 12, Ford sustained a fire in a laundry room, damaging berthing areas and forcing large numbers of crewmembers to seek improvised sleeping arrangements. Combat operations continued, but Ford was eventually pulled off station and sent to Souda Bay for repairs. She is now in Split, Croatia, where work to fix interior damage is under way.
The carrier USS George H.W. Bush has deployed from Norfolk and is widely expected to relieve Ford.
Ford has now been away from her home port for more than nine months, and the Navy expects it will be another two before she returns.
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According to Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle, Ford will "probably go into the 11th month of deployed operations," putting her back in Norfolk sometime in late May or early June. The timeline suggests a period of about one month when Ford and Bush will both be in the region simultaneously.
U.S. President Donald Trump has signaled that operations against Iran will wrap up in two to three weeks. The administration has signaled that it would prefer to depart without retaking the Strait of Hormuz by force, a potentially costly and risky endeavor which would extend the length of the conflict; a three-week end point would provide less time than required for a ground operation to reopen the strait and maintain its security for the immediate term.
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