“Home is the sailor, home from the sea.” That refrain from Robert Louis Stevenson will be joyfully repeated right across America in coming days after the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), the world’s largest aircraft carrier, returned home to Virginia on Saturday after an 11-month foreign deployment, the longest since the Vietnam War.
During its overseas journey the mighty vessel supported the U.S. war with Iran and the capture of Nicolás Maduro as he was ousted as Venezuela’s president.
AP reports the most advanced U.S. warship and two accompanying destroyers were secured alongside at Naval Station Norfolk with about 5,000 sailors waiting to see their families for the first time since June.
The USS Gerald R. Ford returned home to Virginia after an 11-month deployment, the longest since the Vietnam War, after supporting the U.S. war with Iran and the capture of Nicolás Maduro when he was Venezuela’s president. (Photo by Mike Kropf/Getty Images)
Sailors are greeted after disembarking aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford at Naval Station Norfolk on May 16, 2026 in Norfolk, Virginia. (Mike Kropf/Getty Images)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was on hand for the arrival of the warships, which included the destroyer USS Bainbridge.
“What the Ford Carrier Strike Group did, and these destroyers did, was exceptional, phenomenal,” said Hegseth, who joined families in welcoming the sailors home.
The AP report set out just why the foreign venture was so important in the annals of U.S. Navy history:
The Ford’s 326 days at sea are the most for an aircraft carrier in the past 50 years and broke the record for the longest post-Vietnam War deployment, according to U.S. Naval Institute News, a news outlet run by the U.S. Naval Institute, a nonprofit organization.
The only longer deployments were the 1973 deployment of USS Midway at 332 days and the 1965 deployment of USS Coral Sea at 329 days.
Adm. Daryl Caudle recognized the difficulties of the longer-than-expected deployment before stressing he doesn’t “want that to be a precedent.”
Aircraft carriers are designed to deploy for up to seven months, but the Ford was at sea for 11 logging a total of 326-days away from her home port.
In all, the carrier took part in the military operation in January to capture Maduro.
Then it would see more battle, heading toward the Middle East as tensions with Iran escalated.
The Ford participated 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, AP noted.
Sailors walk down Pier 11 at Naval Station Norfolk after disembarking aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford on May 16, 2026 in Norfolk, Virginia. (Mike Kropf/Getty Images)
During the deployment, 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.
The ship was commissioned by President Donald Trump in 2017, as Breitbart News reported.
Follow Simon Kent on Twitter: Follow @SunSimonKent or e-mail to: [email protected]
Read the full article here