The US Navy said on Monday that its newest and most advanced aircraft carrier has pulled into port in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, removing it from the fight with Iran.
The first-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford is in port at Naval Support Activity Souda Bay, a US and NATO base located on the Greek island of Crete, where it will receive maintenance and repairs after operating in the Red Sea.
“The aircraft carrier remains fully mission capable,” US 6th Fleet, which oversees Navy operations in Europe, said in a statement. “The port call allows for the ship to undergo efficient assessment, repairs, and resupply. Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group continues its overseas deployment.”
The Ford was spotted near Souda Bay after leaving the Red Sea and sailing north through the Suez Canal in recent days. The locations of the other warships in the strike group are unclear.
The aircraft carrier was briefly in the Middle East supporting US military operations against Iran. However, the Ford’s arrival in Souda Bay removes it from the fight — at least temporarily — and follows a string of incidents during its lengthy deployment.
Stefanos Rapanis/Anadolu via Getty Images
The Ford left its homeport in Virginia on June 24, 2025, beginning an action-packed deployment, only its second fully operational deployment since it commissioned, that has been extended twice and is now eclipsing the nine-month mark. It is atypical for aircraft carriers to remain at sea for this long.
The Ford initially sailed to Europe but was redeployed in November to the Caribbean Sea as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to pressure Venezuela and its former president, Nicolás Maduro. The aircraft carrier remained in the region for several weeks and participated in operations against sanctioned oil tankers.
In mid-February, the carrier was redeployed to the Middle East amid tensions between the Trump administration and Iran. It entered the region in early March, just days after the start of Operation Epic Fury.
But the Ford’s time in the Middle East was short. The US military said on March 12 that a fire in the ship’s main laundry spaces injured two sailors, though it did not damage the propulsion plant, and the vessel remained “fully operational.”
USNI News later reported that hundreds of sailors were treated for smoke inhalation, and the fire caused damage to the ship’s berthing areas, forcing the Navy to pull mattresses from a future aircraft carrier, USS John F. Kennedy.
Photos shared last week by the US military showed flight operations aboard the Ford in the 5th Fleet area of responsibility, which includes the Middle East.
US Navy photo
The Ford’s crew, consisting of more than 4,000 embarked personnel, has also experienced sewage problems during the lengthy deployment, an issue that the US Government Accountability Office raised in a 2020 report, just a few years after the carrier was commissioned.
Navy officials and service leadership have acknowledged challenges that crew members have faced during their extended time at sea, including the recent sewage issues, which a service official told The Wall Street Journal averaged a maintenance call a day.
“Extended deployments demand endurance,” Adm. Daryl Caudle, the chief of naval operations, said in a statement last month. “They ask Sailors to miss births, anniversaries, and everyday moments at home. They ask families to shoulder additional responsibility. That sacrifice is real, and we do not take it lightly.”
The Ford’s departure from the Middle East leaves the Navy with only one aircraft carrier — USS Abraham Lincoln — in the region as combat operations against Iran continue.
President Donald Trump said on Monday that the US will postpone strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days following what he described as productive talks with Tehran.
Trump on Saturday had threatened to strike Iran’s power plants if it didn’t open the strategic Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours. The strategic strait remains under Iranian control, complicating the flow of oil.
