Aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) arrives to Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, May 16, 2026.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
Nearly a year after departing Naval Station Norfolk, Va., USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) returned home on Saturday, finally concluding the longest aircraft carrier deployment since the Vietnam War. The carrier spent 326 days away from home, operating in the North Sea, the Mediterranean, the Caribbean, and the Red Sea.
During the nearly year-long deployment, which began on June 24, 2025, the supercarrier’s crew dealt with clogged toilets, responded to a fire that took approximately 30 hours to contain, and participated in two combat operations.
CVN-78 arrived at Naval Station Norfolk, joined by the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) and USS Mahan (DDG-72).
The warships were welcomed by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who spoke to each ship's crew. Hegseth thanked the sailors of DDG-96 for what he said was a “job well done.
Speaking on the deck of the destroyer, Hegseth said, “You didn’t just accomplish a mission, you made history. You made a nation proud.”
The Secretary of Defense praised the crew of CVN-78 and the sailors Carrier Strike Group 12.
“It’s an incredible story,” Hegseth said. “The story that should be told today is of the heroism and the skill and the professionalism of these sailors who went three times around the world to defend that flag right there. Which can only do what this strike group does.”
The arrival of the warships followed that of the embarked Carrier Air Wing 8 (CVW-8), which returned to their home bases at Naval Station Norfolk and Naval Air Station Oceana on Monday.
It is rare for the civilian head of the Pentagon to personally welcome a warship’s crew home, but it isn’t unheard of, and others have been present when a U.S. Navy vessel returns from a long deployment. Others have also paid visits to ships while they were deployed overseas.
During the Biden administration, in December 2023, then-Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin made an unannounced trip to the Mediterranean Sea to board the USS Gerald R. Ford after her maiden overseas deployment was twice extended due to the war in Gaza. Austin thanked the crew and their families for missing the holidays together.
A year later, Secretary Austin visited the U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed supercarrier, the USS George Washington (CVN-73), following its arrival in Yokosuka, Japan.
It was also during the Biden administration that then-Secretary of the Navy welcomed home multiple U.S. Navy warships, including the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), when the Nimitz-class supercarrier and its escorts returned from a Middle Eastern deployment in July 2024 after defending against Houthi attacks.
Earlier that same year, in March, Del Toro attended the Naval Station Norfolk homecoming for the Wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Bataan (LHD-5) and the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit following an eight and a half month deployment, which included operations in the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleets areas of operation.
In May 2024, Del Toro also traveled to Naval Station Mayport, Fla., to welcome the crew of the USS Carney (DDG-64) home following an eight-month deployment, during which the crew was awarded a U.S. Navy Unit Commendation for their counter-terrorism performance.
Among the most famous – perhaps even infamous – welcome home moments was on May 1, 2003, when President George W. Bush also became the first sitting U.S. president to make an arrested tailhook landing on an aircraft carrier.
President Bush arrived aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) off the coast of San Diego in a Lockheed S-3B Viking, which, because it carried the president, had the unique callsign “Navy One.”
A "Mission Accomplished" banner is mounted on the tower of the USNC Abraham Lincoln. (Photo by Ted Soqui/Corbis via Getty Images)
Corbis via Getty Images
During his address welcoming the crew home, Bush gave his speech beneath a large banner that read “Mission Accomplished.” That went on to generate intense political and public debate as the war continued for years, but the crew actually requested the banner to signify the end of their 290-day deployment.
Bush was far from the first U.S. president to make an official visit to a U.S. Navy warship, as that distinction goes to President John Tyler, who toured the screw steamer USS Princeton in 1844. President Abraham Lincoln also surveyed several warships during the American Civil War, and President Theodore Roosevelt, who had served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy during the McKinley administration, toured several battleships as president.
President Franklin Roosevelt has the distinction of visiting the most warships, including several before World War II. During the conflict, he famously traveled across the Atlantic on the battleship USS Iowa (BB-61). To accommodate his paralysis from polio, a bathtub was the installed, the only one ever on a U.S. military vessel.
Every U.S. president from Dwight D. Eisenhower to George W. Bush had paid a visit to at least one aircraft carrier, although President Donald Trump visited the then-uncommissioned USS Gerald R. Ford in March 2017. Although Joe Biden visited the USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) and the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN-76) as vice president, he never physically boarded any carrier during his presidency.
Chief Aviation Boatswains Mate Fuels Adam Sethre, assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), reunites with his family on Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, May 16, 2026.
(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class John Bellino)
Last October, President Trump was present aboard the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77) while it was underway in the Atlantic Ocean, to observe a firepower demonstration and celebrate the Navy’s 250th anniversary. Trump also met with U.S. military personnel onboard the USS George Washington in Japan later that same month.
For the crews of all those vessels, a visit or a welcome home from the president or even the Secretary of Defense may be a special moment, but one overshadowed by reconnecting with families. Those moments might be the most precious of all.
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