The longest deployment of a United States Navy aircraft carrier since the Vietnam War, and the longest ever for a nuclear-powered flattop, will finally come to an end on Saturday. When she finally arrives home, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), the United States Navy’s newest and largest supercarrier, will have spent 326 days at sea since departing from Naval Station Norfolk on June 24, 2025.
“We’re going to give our heroes a welcome back on Saturday,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle told lawmakers on the House Armed Services Committee on Thursday. “And it’s just an extraordinary ship, extraordinary crew, an extraordinary strike group, and the sailors I couldn’t be more proud of.”
In addition to the flagship of the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group (CSG-12), the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers of Destroyer Squadron 2 (DESRON-2), the Norfolk-based USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) and USS Mahan (DDG-72), and Naval Station Mayport, Florida-based USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) also spent nearly 11 months deployed.
This is only the second full deployment of CVN-78, but it greatly exceeded the total of 239 days she spent at sea during her 2023-2024 deployment, which was extended twice in response to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
The arrival of the warships at their home ports will follow that of the embarked Carrier Air Wing 8 (CVW-8), which returned to their home bases at Naval Station Norfolk and Naval Air Station Oceana on Monday. While embarked, CVW-8 conducted more than 11,800 launches from the carrier, and the six fighter squadrons also logged more than 5,500 flight hours in support of Operation Epic Fury in the Middle East this winter and spring.
Globetrotting Deployment
During the record-long deployment, CSG-12, commanded by Rear Adm. Gavin Duff, operated with more than 15 allies and partners across multiple theaters, supporting the U.S. 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th Fleets.
When CVN-78 departed from Naval Station Norfolk early last summer, under the command of Capt. Dave Skarosi, it was expected that the supercarrier would head to the Middle East, as the U.S. Navy had rotated multiple carrier strike groups to the region. However, that did not happen.
Instead, the USS Gerald R. Ford and her escorts headed to northern European waters, operating in the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, and the “High North Region” to take part in joint operations with NATO forces last fall, before she was dispatched to the Mediterranean Sea.
While in port in Split, Croatia, last October, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the supercarrier to the Caribbean to support Operation Southern Spear, the ongoing drug interdiction campaign, which had also enforced a blockade of oil tankers connected to Venezuela.
The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier was among the warships operating in the region when the U.S. military carried out Operation Absolute Resolve, the mission that saw the successful capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, at their compound in Caracas in early January 2026.
Although it was expected that her mission might be wrapping up, in February, Secretary Hegseth dispatched USS Gerald R. Ford back to the Middle East as part of the build-up of U.S. forces in the region to join USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72). The San Diego-based Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier had departed from Naval Air Station North Island in November, beginning what was expected to be an Indo-Pacific deployment. In January, while operating in the South China Sea, CVN-72 was redirected to the Arabian Sea as part of the build-up of U.S. military forces in U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility.
The U.S. Navy was able to maintain two aircraft carriers to support Operation Epic Fury until mid-March, when a fire broke out on the USS Gerald R. Ford. According to reports, the blaze took nearly 30 hours to contain and affected the berths of more than 100 crew members. The warship was forced to return to Crete and then to Split for repairs, but it eventually returned to the Red Sea to complete the mission.
Too Few Carriers Means Longer Deployments
U.S. Navy officials have expressed concern that such long deployments aren’t good for crew morale, but they also take a toll on the warships. There are 11 operational supercarriers, but nearly half are now undergoing maintenance, leaving the service with few options. That resulted in the deployment of CVN-78 to the Middle East while the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) completed its Composite Training Unit Exercise, a critical, multi-week, intermediate-level exercise that is required before a carrier can be deployed.
CVN-77 finally headed out at the end of March, but the carrier took the long way around Africa, only arriving in the region in mid-April.
It is unclear how long the USS Abraham Lincoln will remain in the Middle East, as she has been at sea for more than 170 days. Still, the current deployment could likely continue until another carrier can be dispatched to relieve CVN-72.
Next up is likely the second-oldest Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69). Last month, the Norfolk-based flattop completed its Planned Incremental Availability, the scheduled period for the U.S. Navy’s aircraft carriers, during which repairs, modernization, and upgrades to the warships’ systems are carried out to sustain their 50-year service life. The Norfolk-based carrier is expected to begin her next mission early in the summer.
The U.S. Navy may not want to keep its flattops at sea for such long deployments, but with just 11 in service, including the oldest supercarrier, the USS Nimitz (CVN-68) – scheduled to be decommissioned next March – the service may have no choice.
