The crews on board this strike group have already endured months at sea only to get their deployment extended. These exceptional Americans rogued up, all supported by their families, continue to stand the watch, taking the fight to the enemy.
It comes, too, despite the Navy's top officer, Adm. Daryl Caudle, having publicly warned last month that the Ford and other vessels that compose its carrier strike group are in need of maintenance, saying there would be "some pushback" from him if an extension of the deployment - typically lasting about seven monthsto meet repair schedules- was sought. Any extension also would have an impact on the sailors and their families, he said.
"Every day that the entire crew is present on the ship, a trouble call has been made for ship's force personnel to repair or unclog a portion of the VCHT system, since June 2023," reads an undated document provided by the Navy, through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request. The carrier has called for help outside the ship 42 times since 2023.
US Southern Command said in a statement that Marines and sailors, working in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and captured the tanker, Olina, "without incident." It appears to be the first time that the US has directly acknowledged the Ford's involvement in the five boarding and seizure operations that began in early December. However, the government has indicated that the carrier was used for at least one of the other missions.
A significant amount of additional firepower is being sent to support President Donald Trump's new drug war. The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, led by the Navy's most advanced aircraft carrier, and its embarked carrier air wing will be diverted from the Mediterranean to the US Southern Command area of responsibility, according to a Friday Pentagon statement. The move marks a notable expansion of US military forces in the region.
