USS Gerald R. Ford enters Atlantic on journey home after record-breaking deployment

NAPLES, Italy — The USS Gerald R. Ford left the Mediterranean Sea this week, a significant milestone in capping a record-breaking deployment that has seen the aircraft carrier on duty in a range of theaters.
Ford and its more than 4,500 embarked sailors and personnel transited the Strait of Gibraltar on Wednesday, presumably on its way back to Norfolk, Va., according to ship watchers.

The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group includes the destroyers USS Winston S. Churchill and USS Mahan along with Carrier Air Wing 8.
U.S. Naval Forces Europe-Africa/U.S. 6th Fleet did not immediately respond to an email seeking confirmation of the carrier’s transit into the Atlantic Ocean.

The Navy has not officially announced Ford’s expected return home, which was widely reported last month.
Ford’s departure from the Mediterranean comes as the carrier and its crew enter their 317th day of what had been expected to be a routine deployment to Europe that began nearly 11 months ago.

Since then, the carrier has seen duty in the eastern Mediterranean, Caribbean and Red seas, among other locations. It also broke a post-Vietnam War record in April for lengthy carrier deployments and has eclipsed most of those same records established since 1964.

The USS Saratoga was deployed for 308 days from 1972 to 1973.

The USS Gerald R. Ford navigates the Strait of Gibraltar on May 6, 2026. The Navy has not officially announced Ford’s expected return home to Norfolk, Va. (Daniel Ferro/ X)

Only USS Coral Sea, deployed for 329 days from 1964 to 1965, and USS Midway, deployed for 332 days from 1972 to 1973, have exceeded Ford, according to data compiled by USNI News.

During the deployment, Ford had a serious fire break out in its main laundry areas that affected several berthing compartments and displaced some 600 sailors while the carrier was on duty in the Red Sea. Three service members were hurt in the blaze, although none suffered life-threatening injuries.

Shortly after the March 12 fire, Ford left the Middle East for repairs at Naval Support Activity Souda Bay on the Greek island of Crete and a port call in Croatia.
It returned to the Middle East in mid-April, leaving the Red Sea not long after the arrival of the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush.

That put three U.S. aircraft carriers in the Middle East for the first time in more than two decades, as Ford operated with Bush and USS Abraham Lincoln, both in the Arabian Sea, in support of U.S. military operations

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