By Owen Evans
Contributing Writer
The USS Gerald R. Ford returned to Virginia on Saturday after an 11-month deployment, the longest for a U.S. aircraft carrier since the Vietnam War, bringing home thousands of sailors after operations in the Caribbean and the Middle East.
The most advanced U.S. warship and two accompanying destroyers docked at Naval Station Norfolk with about 5,000 sailors waiting to see their families for the first time since June 2025. The destroyer USS Bainbridge and the USS Mahan also returned.
USS Gerald R. Ford took part in Operation Absolute Resolve, the U.S. military raid that captured Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on Jan. 3.
The mobilization phase involved deploying thousands of personnel, 17 warships, and amphibious vessels, including the USS Iwo Jima, to the Caribbean.
Following operations around Central and South America, the Ford Strike Group was deployed to the Middle East from Feb. 28 in support of Operation Epic Fury, where it was joined by Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Bainbridge and USS Mahan.
U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was on hand for warships arriving home on Saturday.
“Extraordinary sailors and crew of Strike Group 12: For nearly a year you have held the line for our nation. Your voyage took you to places never expected,” Hegseth told the Ford crew. “You showed resiliency; you fought through all the way to finish the latter part of your mission in Operation Epic Fury … where you and others [sent] an unmistakable message to the world: No one can match the USS Ford, and no one can match the United States military.”
Hegseth also announced that Carrier Strike Group 12 had been awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for the group’s actions during its deployment.
According to military archive website Amtrac.org, the Navy Presidential Unit Citation is awarded to units of the armed forces of the United States and cobelligerent nations for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy.
“The unit must have accomplished its mission under such extremely difficult and hazardous conditions to set it apart from and above other units participating in the same campaign,” Amtrac states. “The degree of heroism required is the same as that which would be required for award of a Navy Cross to an individual.”
Hegseth told the Ford crew that the award is not given “simply for performing your duties.”
“It is earned through extraordinary heroism. It signifies that, in the crucible of combat during Operation Epic Fury, Strike Group 12 unleashed lethality and violence of action that [neutralized enemies] and secured a mission of vital national importance,” he said.
“To wear this ribbon is to tell the world that everyone in this formation fought with an indomitable spirit. You operate with grit and defiance that sets you apart. By your conduct, you have secured a current place in the hallowed lineage of our naval history.”
Hegseth also made a point of thanking and recognizing thousands of family members, including 78 new babies, 56 born to Ford families, and 11 who were born to both the Bainbridge and Mahan families, each, during the 11-month deployment, many of whom arrived pier-side to welcome their sailors back after nearly a year at sea.
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.
Only USS Coral Sea (CVA-43) in 1964 and USS Midway (CVA-41) in 1972 have deployed longer for national tasking in the past six decades, it said.
The Associated Press and Mike Fredenburg contributed to this report.
