The USS Gerald R. Ford is on a deployment that could easily stretch to 11 months and set a Navy record, and it's wearing on the 5,000 people aboard and those waiting at home. The Wall Street Journal reports that President Trump has twice extended the carrier's mission—first diverting it from the Mediterranean to the Caribbean to support operations around Venezuela, then sending it across the Atlantic to bolster US military options against Iran. What's typically a six-month peacetime deployment has now stretched past eight months, with sailors missing funerals, family milestones, and even basic home repairs.
Forbes notes that the record at the moment for a post-Cold War stretch at sea is 294 days, or close to 10 months, achieved by the USS Abraham Lincoln from April 2019 to January 2020. Interviews with crew members aboard the USS Ford and their relatives describe frustration, uncertainty, and talk of leaving the service altogether, even as others frame the hardship as part of the job. "I must stay here by myself, no matter how lonely or overwhelming it becomes," the wife of one USS Ford sailor tells the Journal.
The 1945 site notes that "the longer the Ford is deployed, the more fatigued her crew will be. Morale is essential to any military operation, and sailors who are deprived from their family and loved ones for almost a year understandably face issues with mental health." The strain isn't just emotional: The Ford has battled sewage system issues, and experts say such long deployments tax both ships and the Navy's wider maintenance and training regimen. Senior Navy leaders acknowledge the burden, but they say the demands of current operations take precedence. "When our country calls, we answer," says Capt. David Skarosi, the Ford's commanding officer. More firsthand accounts here.
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