USS Gerald R. Ford's 300 Days at Sea Poses Challenges For US
Monday will see the USS Gerald R. Ford hit the 300-day mark for its deployment amid questions about the impact on personnel and equipment of the longest stretch at sea for a U.S. carrier since the Vietnam War.
On Wednesday, the world's largest aircraft carrier broke the record for the longest post-Cold War deployment for a U.S. carrier, its 295th day at sea. It surpassed the previous longest stretch recorded by USS Abraham Lincoln during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, according to data compiled by U.S. Naval Institute News (USNI).
Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat for Virginia and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower, said on Wednesday that this lengthy deployment has taken a serious toll on sailors' mental health and well-being.
Kaine sent a letter to the Navy in March expressing his concerns about the length of Ford’s deployment, its maintenance cycle, and the well-being and retention of sailors on board.
“The sailors of USS Gerald R. Ford said goodbye to their families in Norfolk last June thinking they would be back before the holidays," his statement said.
Kaine took aim at President Donald Trump whom he has accused of waging a "war of choice” against Iran, adding that personnel should be home and "not sent around the world by a President who acts like the U.S. military is his palace guard.”
Extended Time on Patrol
The vessel started its deployment on June 24 by heading to the Mediterranean Sea and was rerouted to the Caribbean Sea in October as part of a large naval buildup, ahead of taking part in the military operation to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Then it went to the Middle East for the start of the Iran war from the Mediterranean Sea before going through the Suez Canal and heading into the Red Sea in early March.
"They’ve been gone for a long time and the ship hasn’t helped," Mark Cancian, a retired U.S. marine colonel and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told Newsweek.
A fire in one of its laundry spaces forced the carrier to return to the Mediterranean Sea for repairs, an incident that Kaine said had temporarily left 600 sailors without sleeping berths.
The Pentagon has not said how long the Ford, which is in the eastern Mediterranean according USNI, will stay deployed, but the Navy’s two highest-ranking officers both said the stint is likely to be around 11 months, which take it to the end of May.
Cancian said "it was unusual but not unique" to have a carrier out there so long. "The Navy doesn’t like to do this because it’s hard on crew and families.”
Cancian said that deployments of three or four months longer than originally planned can cause problems if there are many ships, as they have to be rotated or extended, which could cause a "cascading disruption" on their maintenance cycle.
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Iran and Gulf state ports
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US Navy Vessels In the Middle East
The carrier is still in the Mediterranean but as of Wednesday, about 27 U.S. Navy vessels are now operating in the Middle East in connection with the Iran War according to Stars and Stripes, citing USNI News Fleet Tracker data. The U.S. is imposing a blockade on ships entering and exiting Iranian ports as it bids to unblock the Strait of Hormuz controlled by Iran.
Bryan Clark, a naval expert and senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, told Newsweek there are logistical issues for the American naval presence in the Middle East.
He said since most of the naval forces deployed were part of the USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Abraham Lincoln strike groups, "they are already several months past their normal end of deployment, so they are likely running into maintenance and repair problems."
"The more important logistical challenges are fuel, food, and ammunition. Normally, U.S. ships get fuel at sea from oilers that would be refueled in Kuwait," said Clark.
"Since they cannot get to Kuwait now, oilers are having to go to other ports that can provide jet fuel for airplanes and ship turbine engines."
Clark said that several ports might be able to provide this fuel outside the gulf, such as Muscat in Oman, but the fuel producer may not be certified by the U.S. Navy or it may not have fuel available due to a shut down in production or transport. U.S. oilers may need to travel to Diego Garcia or farther away, like Singapore, to obtain fuel from a qualified source, Clark added.
Clark also said that ammunition is a harder problem. U.S. ships would normally reload in port in the Gulf since several ports have the right facilities and there are US stocks in places like Bahrain. “Those aren't reachable now, so U.S. ships would probably need to go to Diego Garcia or a NATO port like in Souda Bay, Greece to reload," Clark added.
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Strait of Hormuz traffic – 4/12/2026
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This story was originally published April 17, 2026 at 6:23 AM.