The world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, conducts operations in the Mediterranean Sea, Nov. 10, 2023. The carrier will remain with its strike group in the eastern Mediterranean, U.S. officials said. (Malachi Lakey/U.S. Navy)
NAPLES, Italy — The Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier will stay in the eastern Mediterranean Sea for the foreseeable future in a continued show of strength, as Iran-backed militants increase their attacks on American forces in the Middle East.
The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group will remain on duty in the region until Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin determines it should return to the U.S., Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokesperson, told reporters Tuesday.
She added that the Defense Department would make an announcement when that decision had been made.
On Monday, USNI News reported that Austin had again extended Ford’s deployment. The carrier left its home port in Norfolk, Va., more than six months ago on May 2.
Petty Officer 1st Class Brandon Nobles, attached to Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 70, observes an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter during flight operations aboard the dock landing ship USS Carter Hall, Oct. 27, 2023. (Moises Sandoval/U.S. Navy)
The statement about Ford came as U.S. forces carried out retaliatory strikes Tuesday against two undisclosed facilities in Iraq. The operation was connected to a close-range ballistic missile attack Monday against American and coalition forces at al Asad Air Base in Iraq’s western Anbar province.
An AC-130 gunship airborne at the time of the missile attack fired on a vehicle carrying militants thought to be responsible, resulting in several casualties, U.S. officials said.
In all, U.S. forces in Iraq and Syria have been attacked upward of 66 times since Oct. 17, resulting in 62 injuries to American personnel, Singh said. Those numbers did not include the most recent attack, she noted.
Ford was nearing the end of its first full deployment when Hamas militants launched an attack on Israel, killing and torturing at least 1,200 people on Oct. 7.
Days later, Austin ordered Ford and the Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group to the eastern Mediterranean in support of Israel and to deter a broader regional conflict.
Eisenhower later was redirected to U.S. Central Command, which includes the Persian Gulf, Red Sea and Gulf of Oman.
Other Navy ships in the eastern Mediterranean include the amphibious command ship USS Mount Whitney. In addition to the Eisenhower group, the Bataan Amphibious Ready Group, which includes USS Bataan and USS Carter Hall along with the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, is deployed in the Middle East.
Ford is not the first U.S. carrier on duty in the Mediterranean in recent years to see its deployment extended.
The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Group spent more than eight months in the region after war broke out in Ukraine. It was relieved by USS George H.W. Bush in August 2022.
Analysts have suggested that the Navy could keep the carrier in the region through December without negatively impacting deployment and maintenance schedules.
The Ford group includes the destroyers USS McFaul, USS Ramage and USS Thomas Hudner, the cruiser USS Normandy and Carrier Air Wing 8.
