{"id":181845,"date":"2026-04-30T10:45:50","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=181845"},"modified":"2026-04-30T10:54:33","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T14:54:33","slug":"uss-ford-headed-home-finally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=181845","title":{"rendered":"USS Ford Headed Home. Finally."},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nUSS Ford (CVN-78)<\/em><\/p>\n

USS Ford aircraft carrier will be heading home after record-breaking deployment<\/h3>\n

By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN and BEN FINLEY<\/strong><\/p>\n

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The world\u2019s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, will be heading home following a record-setting deployment of more than 300 days that included participating in the war against Iran and capture of Venezuelan leader Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, two U.S. officials said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The Ford will be leaving the Middle East in the coming days and returning to its home port in Virginia in mid-May, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail sensitive military movements. The Washington Post reported the development earlier.<\/p>\n

The arrival of the USS George H.W. Bush to the region last week meant three American aircraft carriers were deployed to the Middle East \u2014 a number not seen since 2003 \u2014 during a tenuous ceasefire in the Iran war. USS Abraham Lincoln also has been in the region since January as tensions with Tehran ramped up.<\/p>\n

This month, the Ford broke the U.S. record for the longest post-Vietnam War deployment, a nearly 10-month span after leaving Naval Station Norfolk in June.<\/p>\n

The ship\u2019s 295th day at sea surpassed the previous longest deployment by an aircraft carrier in the past 50 years, when the Lincoln was sent out for 294 days in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data compiled by U.S. Naval Institute News, a news outlet run by the U.S. Naval Institute, a nonprofit organization.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

AP News<\/a><\/p>\n

USS Ford initially deployed to the Mediterranean but “Operational Necessity” required real-time assets in the Caribbean during the Maduro capture, then in the Middle East for the conflict with Iran. An unscheduled trip to Souda Bay for repairs added to the cruise’s duration.<\/p>\n

Ford\u2019s 295-day cruise falls short of the longest aircraft carrier deployment. USS Midway- long decommissioned- holds that record. During the Cold War she was deployed for 332 days in 1972-73.<\/p>\n

I could mention a time not so long ago when the US Navy fielded 14 aircraft carriers and could cover two world conflicts simultaneously, but then Obama came along and fixed all that. Welcome home shipmates.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

USS Ford (CVN-78) USS Ford aircraft carrier will be heading home after record-breaking deployment By KONSTANTIN TOROPIN and BEN FINLEY WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The world\u2019s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, will be heading home following a record-setting deployment of more than 300 days that included participating in the war against Iran and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[703],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-181845","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-big-navy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4ozh1-LiZ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/657"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=181845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181845\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=181845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=181845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=181845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}