The USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group, the largest aircraft carrier in the world, will leave the Eastern Mediterranean after more than two months of its deployment to the region following Hamas’s attack on Israel in October, according to ABC News.
Return to Norfolk, Virginia
The carrier and other surface ships that make up the group will return to their home port in Norfolk, Virginia, in “the coming days as originally planned,” according to a senior U.S. official and another U.S. official who spoke to the outlet. The carrier group will return to the United States to prepare for future missions.
U.S. military capability in the region
According to the senior U.S. official, the United States will still have military capability in the region and the flexibility to deploy additional destroyers and jets in the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s directive
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin directed the naval group to the region the day after Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7. The carrier was sent to the region to bolster regional deterrence, Austin said at the time, in an effort to prevent the escalation of the conflict into a broader regional war.
With this, the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group will leave the Eastern Mediterranean and return to the United States to prepare for future missions.
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