Carrier Rotation

This would not be the first time the United States has rotated its nuclear-powered carriers to the Middle East. Between October 2023 and September 2025, the U.S. Navy had a near-constant carrier presence to deter an escalation of the war in Gaza and to counter the Iranian-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, which had begun to target commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden in support of Hamas.

USS Gerald R. Ford operated in the Eastern Mediterranean after having her 2023 deployment twice extended, before she was relieved by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69). The carrier presence remained until USS Nimitz (CVN-68) departed the region last year.

USS Abraham Lincoln, the U.S. Navy’s fifth Nimitz-class flattop, was redirected to the Arabian Sea in January after operating in the South China Sea, as part of the build-up of forces as the U.S. pressured Iran to give up its nuclear program, before Operation Epic Fury was initiated on February 28, 2026.

CVN-78 was dispatched to the Red Sea in February, after previously being deployed to the Caribbean to support the pressure campaign against Venezuela. The lead vessel of the U.S. Navy's new class of supercarriers was redirected from a planned Mediterranean mission and participated in operations to bolster the U.S. presence, which led to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro at the beginning of the year.

Record Setting Deployment

USS Gerald R. Ford had departed from her homeport of Naval Station Norfolk, Va., on June 24, 2025, and as of Wednesday has been at sea for 309 days. It is the longest post-Vietnam War deployment for a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier. It is now closing in on the record for longest continuous deployment set by the USS Midway (CV-41) during its 1972-1973 mission, which lasted 332 days, during the Vietnam War.

Last week, the crew of CVN-78 was recognized by the Ford Presidential Foundation for taking part in the longest deployment since the Vietnam War.

“As you navigate the waters of the Eastern Mediterranean and Red Sea, you carry with you more than just the name of our 38th President; you carry his legacy of integrity, good judgment and courageous battle-tested leadership. Like Lieutenant Commander Gerald Ford, who served with distinction aboard the light carrier USS Monterey during World War II, you have demonstrated extraordinary resilience in the face of adversity,” the Board of Trustees Chair David Hoogendoorn wrote in a letter to the crew last Thursday.

Lengthy Deployments Are Now The Norm

The United States Navy has just 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, one fewer than in 2000, but down from its peak of 15 deployable fleet aircraft carriers in 1990. Besides having fewer warships to accomplish missions to meet global demands, the service is also dealing with long-term maintenance delays, with a majority of maintenance phases not finishing on time.

That has resulted in these extended deployments, something not seen in decades.

“It kind of reminded me of the shakedown cruise of the battleship New Jersey, which first went to the coast of Nicaragua and then went to Lebanon to conduct bombardment missions,” explained Dr. David F. Winkler, USNR (Ret.), staff historian with the Naval Historical Foundation, referring to the 11-month deployment of USS New Jersey (BB-62) from June 1983 to May 1984.

“As for subsequent deployments exceeding the length of this one I would doubt it as it does impact morale and retention,” Winkler wrote in an email.

The question is whether the U.S. Navy will have the option to shorten deployments. USS Abraham Lincoln departed San Diego on November 21, 2025, and has already spent 159 days at sea. More importantly, she had been deployed to the South China Sea, only to be redirected to the Middle East.

“The demand signal has shifted,” added geopolitical analyst Irina Tsukerman, president of threat assessment firm Scarab Rising. “It is no longer a matter of rotating attention from one region to another. Several theaters now carry real tension simultaneously. When that happens, carriers stop fitting into a predictable cycle and start becoming a near-constant presence that decision-makers are reluctant to interrupt.”

Once a U.S. aircraft carrier is in place, it assumes a role that extends beyond its initial tasking. Instead, Tsukerman wrote in an email that it “becomes part of how allies gauge commitment and how adversaries read intent.”

That creates a kind of inertia, where keeping a warship deployment may seem safer than pulling it back, especially when conditions remain unsettled.

“Extensions tend to build gradually, one decision after another, until a deployment stretches far beyond what was originally planned,” Tsukerman warned.

Longer Deployments Require Longer Maintenance

Once USS Gerald R. Ford arrives home, it could be years before she is ready to deploy again. Beyond some planned upgrades, including modifications to allow the aircraft carrier to embark the Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II, the carrier-based variant of the Joint Strike Fighter, the maintenance needs are likely to be extensive.

CVN-78 suffered a rather significant fire during its current deployment, with repairs completed in Split, Croatia, earlier this month. It remains unclear how extensive the damage was or if the repairs were only temporary, but regardless, some issues will almost certainly need to be resolved. The U.S. Navy will also need to address the now-infamous clogging toilets on the carrier.

Even without those issues, lengthy deployments already result in even lengthier maintenance periods.

“That pattern builds on itself,” suggested Tsukerman. “A ship that remains deployed longer comes home needing more extensive work, which can delay its next availability. That delay shifts pressure onto the next carrier in line. Over time, the system becomes less flexible, and extensions start to recur as a way to keep coverage intact.”

For the crews, the effect is cumulative as well — a deployment that keeps extending changes how people think about their time in service.

“Plans at home will keep moving,” Tsukerman continued. “The sense of a clear endpoint may fade. Sailors will continue to perform at a high level, yet the strain builds in ways that show up later in morale and retention rather than in day-to-day operations.”