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| USS Gerald R. Ford Home After Record-Breaking 11-Month Deployment |
| 2026-05-18 |
| [Breitbart] “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. 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. 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. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #3 |
| Posted by: NoMoreBS 2026-05-18 15:34 |
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| Posted by: ed in texas 2026-05-18 10:19 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: NN2N1 2026-05-18 07:57 |