Although the deployment was scheduled last year, it’s still a significant move that the U.S. Navy’s newest and biggest aircraft carrier—the $13 billion USS Gerald R. Ford—is soon to set sail to the Mediterranean Sea, according to a report. It’s yet another movement of forces as the Iran-Israel conflict heats up and the Russia-Ukraine war shows no signs of slowing down.
It will join other American forces in the region:
The USS Ford, America’s flagship 1,100-foot nuclear-powered carrier, is expected to be sent to Europe as soon as next week, making it the third US aircraft carrier group in the region, CNN’s senior national reporter Zachary Cohen reported on Wednesday.
The Ford will join the USS Carl Vinson, which is already in the Persian Gulf, and the USS Nimitz — which the US announced it was sending from Southeast Asia earlier this week.
It’s quite the ship:
It cost $12.9 billion to build the USS Gerald R. Ford, but it's a huge improvement for the US Navy pic.twitter.com/dTrnMY3mXI
— Business Insider (@BusinessInsider) April 7, 2019
Although its construction encountered difficulties and delays, it was finally finished in 2017 and is now a high-tech, huge warship:
The USS Gerald R. Ford is the US Navy's newest and largest aircraft carrier — in fact, it's the world's largest.
Commissioned in July 2017, it is the first of the Ford-class carriers, which are more technologically advanced than Nimitz-class carriers.
It has an improved hull design and weapons stowage, a new weapons elevator, more space on the flight deck, a new electromagnetic-powered aircraft-launch system, three times the electrical-generation capacity of any previous carrier, and a lot more.
Related: Trump Approves Iran Attack Plans But Withholds Final Strike Order
The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) and Carrier Strike Group Twelve (CSG-12) are expected to depart from the United States within the next week for their regularly scheduled deployment to the U.S. European Command’s (EUCOM) Areas-of-Responsibility, likely somewhere in the… pic.twitter.com/i2IhBfFsHv
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 18, 2025
This deployment, while scheduled for Europe, will allow the Ford and her Strike Group to quickly reach the Eastern Mediterranean off the coast with Israel, if the U.S. decides to join the war against Iran.
There have been other U.S. military movements going on:
Several other US warships have left a US naval base in Bahrain as part of increased military movements around Iran, it was reported on Wednesday.
Aerial refueling tankers have also been sent to the region.
On Monday, the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier left the South China Sea and set off for the Middle East amid soaring tensions in the region…
More than 30 US Air Force aerial-refueling tanks took off from American bases and headed east across the Atlantic this week, Middle East Monitor reported.
Events continue to unfold at a rapid-fire pace. President Trump met with his team in the Situation Room Wednesday night, but details of any decisions he might have made have not yet been disclosed.
RedState will keep you up to date. In the meantime, here's "Life Inside US Navy's Largest City At Sea":
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