The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, will be heading home following a record-setting deployment of more than 300 days that included participating in the war against Iran and capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, two US officials said Wednesday.
The Ford will be leaving the Middle East in the coming days and returning to its home port in Virginia in mid-May, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to detail sensitive military movements. The Washington Post reported the development earlier.
The arrival of the USS George HW Bush to the region last week meant three American aircraft carriers were deployed to the Middle East – a number not seen since 2003 – during a tenuous ceasefire in the Iran war. The USS Abraham Lincoln also has been in the region since January as tensions with Tehran ramped up.
This month, the Ford broke the US record for the longest post Vietnam-war deployment, a nearly 10-month span after leaving Naval Station Norfolk in June.
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