US super aircraft carrier ‘has left the Middle East’

A US official on May 1 told AFP news agency that the country’s aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford had left the Middle East and was currently in the area under the responsibility of US Forces Command in Europe (EUCOM).

EUCOM’s area of ​​responsibility spans Europe, the Caucasus, Iceland and Russia, encompassing 50 countries and territories.

US officials said the country’s navy currently has 20 ships in the Middle East, including two aircraft carriers USS Abraham Lincoln and USS George HW Bush.

The information appeared after the Washington Post on April 29 quoted US officials saying that the warship Ford would begin its journey home in the next few days. One person said that this warship is expected to dock in Virginia in mid-May.

Middle East Command (CENTCOM), the agency in charge of US military operations in the Middle East, has not commented.

The aircraft carrier Ford has been at sea for more than 10 months and has participated in US operations in the Caribbean Sea, where its forces raided boats suspected of carrying drugs, blocked oil tankers on the sanctions list and launched a raid to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

The warship was then deployed to the Middle East to support the campaign to attack Iran. On March 12, a fire broke out in the laundry room on the aircraft carrier Ford, injuring two sailors and seriously damaging about 100 beds, according to the US military.

This warship is also said to have encountered major problems with the toilet system while at sea. According to American media, the toilets are often clogged and sailors have to line up to wait their turn to use them.

The Ford aircraft carrier strike group leaves the Norfolk base in Virginia from the end of June 2025. This is the longest deployment of a US aircraft carrier in decades.

Retired US Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery once said that equipment on the ship would begin to fail after about 8 months of not being able to return to port for maintenance and repair.

According to the Washington Post, being on duty at sea for too long not only affects the future performance of the Ford itself, but also affects the readiness of other warships because US factories have limited capacity.

USS Gerald R. Ford is an American super aircraft carrier, also the most expensive warship in the country’s naval history with a delivery price of nearly 13 billion USD. The ship can carry 75 aircraft of all types, including F/A-18E/F fighters, EA-18G electronic warfare aircraft, E-2D early warning and airborne command aircraft, and many types of patrol and submarine hunting helicopters.

The escort group includes destroyers USS Winston S. Churchill, USS Bainbridge, USS Mahan and USS Forrest Sherman, and at least one nuclear attack submarine. Each ship can carry dozens of missiles of all types and is equipped with a sensor system that allows monitoring the surrounding airspace and vast sea areas.