WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - USS Gerald R. Ford has broken the record for the longest carrier deployment since the Vietnam War.
The sailors of USS Gerald R. Ford said goodbye to their families in Norfolk last June thinking they would be back before the holidays. But after being ordered from the Mediterranean to the coast of Venezuela and then to the Middle East, Ford on Wednesday broke the record for the longest modern carrier deployment.
As per data by the U.S. Naval Institute, Gerald Ford reached its 295th day at sea, breaking the 294-day record that was set by USS Abraham Lincoln during the Covid pandemic.
Ford, currently in the Eastern Mediterranean, left from Naval Station Norfolk, Va., for Europe on June 24, 2025, before being shifted in October to the Caribbean Sea as part of the wider Pentagon naval presence ahead of the military operation to capture former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.
In February this year, Ford was deployed to the Middle East war and eventually the Red Sea. While in CENTCOM, a fire in the ship's laundry forced the carrier back to the Mediterranean Sea for repairs.
Ford's deployment has been extended twice. While the carrier is expected to return home in May, it remains possible that it could break the record for longest carrier deployment in U.S. history.
The world's largest aircraft carrier and the largest warship ever constructed, Gerald R. Ford was commissioned by President Donald Trump on 2017 July 22.
With nearly 4,500 sailors aboard, Ford has the capacity to carry unmanned aircraft, joint strike fighters, and deploy lasers.
Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) said in a statement that 10 months-long deployment aboard the amphibious ship has taken a serious toll on the sailors' mental health and well-being, especially after the recent fire that temporarily left 600 sailors without sleeping berths.
'They should be home with their loved ones, not sent around the world by a President who acts like the U.S. military is his palace guard. Our service members and their families expect and deserve better from their leaders,' added Kaine, who is a Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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