USS Ford strike group will join USS Lincoln carrier strike group in Persian Gulf

USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group redirected from Caribbean to Middle East, extending deployment into spring.Summary:USS USS Gerald R. Ford and escort ships will be rerouted from the Caribbean to the Middle East, delaying their return home until late April or early May. This redeployment will see the Ford strike group join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group in the Persian Gulf, as part of heightened U.S. pressure on Iran. The Ford’s extended mission began June 24 when it left Norfolk, Va. for Europe, was rerouted to the Caribbean as part of U.S. Southern Command operations, and is now being redirected again.The United States Navy’s USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and its accompanying escort ships have been ordered to shift from their current deployment in the Caribbean to the Middle East, where they are expected to remain through late April or early May. The decision, communicated to the carrier’s crew on Thursday by U.S. officials, marks an extraordinary extension and redirection of what was initially scheduled as a routine overseas deployment. The Ford strike group’s deployment began on June 24, when the carrier departed Norfolk, Virginia for a planned European cruise. Instead, the carrier was first rerouted to the Caribbean under U.S. Southern Command operations, joining dozens of other warships in one of the largest U.S. maritime presences in the region in decades. Its mission was tied to enhanced pressure against transnational criminal networks and geopolitical tensions in Latin America. Now, as tensions with Iran remain high under the current U.S. administration’s strategic posture, the Ford strike group will join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group already in the Persian Gulf. This reinforcement is part of a broader military positioning linked to Washington’s resurgent pressure campaign on Tehran’s leadership, reflecting strategic signalling as much as operational intent. Aircraft carriers like the Ford are central to U.S. power projection, equipped to provide air, sea, and missile strike capabilities from international waters without requiring host-nation basing rights.While Pentagon officials have not publicly confirmed the redeployment details, multiple U.S. sources familiar with internal discussions described the shift in orders. The Ford’s new assignment underscores both the intensity of current geopolitical pressures and the strategic value Washington places on maintaining a formidable aircraft carrier presence across multiple theaters of operation. This pic is of neither, I know.
This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at investinglive.com.

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