The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford, the most modern of the U.S. Navy, was sighted leaving the port of Split, in Croatia, after receiving orders from the Pentagon to head toward the Caribbean, within the area of responsibility of the United States Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM).
According to what was expressed by the Secretary of War of the United States, Pete Hegseth, the redeployment of the Carrier Strike Group was arranged to support operations aimed at dismantling transnational criminal organizations and countering narcoterrorism in the region.
The Pentagon reported that the measure responds to the presidential directive to intensify actions against the drug trafficking networks that operate in the Western Hemisphere, which have been identified by Washington as a direct threat to the security of the United States and as a source of financing for the government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela.
In a statement published on the social network X, the main spokesperson of the Pentagon, Sean Parnell, stated: “The reinforced presence of U.S. forces in the area of responsibility of USSOUTHCOM will strengthen the capacity of the United States to detect, monitor, and dismantle the illicit actors and activities that compromise the security and prosperity of the national territory, as well as the stability in the Western Hemisphere.”
Parnell added that the USS Gerald Ford Carrier Strike Group and its embarked air wing were deployed to support the mission of dismantling Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCO) and countering narcoterrorism.
According to military sources, the USS Gerald Ford — described by the U.S. Navy as “the most capable, adaptable, and lethal combat platform in the world” — set sail on Sunday from Croatia, after having arrived the previous Wednesday. It is expected to cross the Strait of Gibraltar, which connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea, during its journey toward the Caribbean.
According to information from the U.S. Naval Institute News, the transatlantic voyage could take at least a week. In addition to the aircraft carrier, the strike group is made up of nine aircraft and helicopter squadrons and at least five destroyers. Two of them, the USS Forrest Sherman and the USS Mitscher, are operating in the Middle East, while the USS Winston S. Churchill, the USS Bainbridge, and the USS Mahan are distributed among bases in Greece and Italy, according to satellite images.
At the same time, three U.S. destroyers — the USS Jason Dunham, the USS Gravely, and the USS Stockdale — are already deployed in the Caribbean, along with a cruiser, a littoral combat ship, a submarine, and three amphibious ships, according to the same source.
The Second Fleet had indicated in a previous statement that the presence of the strike group provides U.S. combatant commanders and civilian leaders “a greater capacity to reinforce the security and economic prosperity of the United States, deter adversaries, and project power globally through sustained operations at sea.”
The USS Gerald R. Ford, lead ship of its class, was designed to gradually replace the Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, the first of which — the USS Nimitz — will be withdrawn from service next year.
Defense analysts point out that the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford in the area of the Southern Command will not be carried out in isolation, but accompanied by its strike group, which includes escort and support ships. Likewise, it is estimated that a nuclear attack submarine could operate in the area as part of the arrangement.
The intensification of the U.S. military presence in the Caribbean takes place in a context of growing tensions between Washington and Caracas, after President Donald Trump declared that the United States is in an “armed conflict” against the drug cartels, considered “illegal combatants.”
So far, the Permanent Mission of Venezuela to the United Nations has not issued comments regarding the deployment.
*Photographs used for illustrative purposes.
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