The US Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford left the Mediterranean Sea on Tuesday and is on its way to the Atlantic Ocean. The aircraft carrier and the lead ship of its class will sail to Latin America, 11 days after the Pentagon announced that the strike group would move to the region.
USS Gerald R. Ford
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier to sail to the Caribbean as part of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign targeting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Moros.
The aircraft carrier was commissioned in 2017 as the first aircraft carrier of its class, USS Gerald R. Ford, which is named after Gerald Ford, the 38th President of the United States, and is often described as “the world’s most capable, adaptable and lethal battle platform.”
“The enhanced presence of U.S. forces in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility will enhance the United States’ ability to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that threaten the safety and prosperity of the U.S. homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,” Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, wrote in an X post last week. “These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt drug trafficking and reduce and dismantle traditional business operations.”
A Defense Ministry official confirmed news agency The US Navy said the USS Ford and USS Bainbridge crossed the Strait of Gibraltar into the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday.
USS GERALD R FORD CVN78 CBG is heading west via STROG this morning #shipsinpics #Ships #shipping #Discovery of ships #nautical @air_intel @air_intel @WarshipCam @seawaves_mag #Navy pic.twitter.com/QaA7pMhqx3
– Danielle Ferro (@Gibdan1) November 4, 2025
Ford was originally deployed with five destroyers, but it is not clear if all of them will go to the Caribbean. Two other destroyers in Ford’s strike group, USS Winston Churchill and USS Mahan, are now in the Mediterranean, with Mahan based in Rota, Spain.
The other two destroyers, USS Forrest Sherman and USS Mitchener, are in the Red Sea, the official said.
US military strikes against drug ships
Ford’s arrival in the region will mark a major escalation in the buildup of US military forces in the region as the Trump administration attacks boats accused of carrying drugs.
Since September, the US military has carried out at least 15 raids, in both the Caribbean and the Pacific, targeting alleged drug trafficking vessels, killing 64 people.
(Tags for translation) USS Gerald R. Ford
