The American aircraft carrier Gerald Ford, which had been dispatched by President Trump to the Middle East before the start of the war in Iran, returned to the United States on Saturday, setting a record for a sea mission, the Pentagon announced.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier returned to its home port in Norfolk, on the east coast of the United States, welcomed by Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, the US Department of Defense said on social media.
The Gerald Ford completed a 326-day mission, the longest for a naval group since the Vietnam War, the Pentagon said.
Before being dispatched to the Middle East to participate in combat against Iran, the USS Gerald Ford supported US operations in the Caribbean, where Washington carried out an intense campaign of airstrikes against boats linked to drug trafficking, seized sanctioned tankers, and most notably captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in early January.
The impressive vessel was redirected to the Middle East by Donald Trump in mid-February. In late March, it briefly stopped in Croatia for maintenance operations after a fire broke out in the main laundry room two weeks earlier, injuring two sailors.
The ship also faced serious problems with its sanitary facilities, with reports of clogged pipes and long lines at restroom doors.
AFP
