The world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), has set a new record for the longest post-Vietnam War-era deployment. A nearly 10-month span at sea has seen it add to both the military raid in Venezuela and Operation Epic Fury.
AP reports the warship’s 295th day out of port surpassed the previous longest deployment by an aircraft carrier in the past 50 years.
That mark was set when the USS Abraham Lincoln was sent out for 294 days in 2020 during the Chinese coronavirus pandemic, according to data compiled by U.S. Naval Institute News, a news outlet run by the U.S. Naval Institute, a nonprofit organization.
USS Gerald Ford arrived in Split as part of a planned visit and technical maintenance after a months-long mission and war operations in the Middle East on March 29, 2026 in Split, Croatia. (Samir Jordamovic/Anadolu via Getty Images)
The ship carries two nuclear reactors and has a compliment of other 4,500 officers and sailors, including naval aviators for the air wing which stands at over 75 fixed and rotary-wing military aircraft.
The AP report notes some of the destinations and areas traveled by the ship:
The Ford began its deployment in June 2025, heading to the Mediterranean See from its home port in Norfolk, Virginia. The military rerouted it to the Caribbean Sea in October as part of the largest naval buildup in the region in generations.
The carrier took part in the military operation to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Then it would see more battle, heading toward the Middle East as tensions with Iran escalated.
The carrier took part in the opening days of the Iran war from the Mediterranean Sea before going through the Suez Canal and heading into the Red Sea in early March.
A fire in one of its laundry spaces later forced the carrier to turn around and return to the Mediterranean Sea for repairs, as Breitbart News reported.
The Navy’s two highest-ranking officers both said publicly they expect the ship to be deployed for around 11 months. That would put a return home at late next month or sometime into June.
“You’re going to see a record-breaking deployment by Ford,” Adm. Daryl Caudle, the Navy’s top officer, said during a discussion at the Center for Strategic and International Studies at the end of March.
The Ford’s 295-day deployment falls short of the longest deployment during the Cold War, a record held by the now-decommissioned USS Midway. It was deployed for 332 days in 1972 and 1973.
The first-in-class carrier’s battle group has variously included – but not been restricted to – two guided missile destroyers, USS Bainbridge and USS Mahan, plus the missile defense command ship USS Winston S. Churchill.
It was commissioned by President Donald Trump in 2017, as Breitbart News reported.
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