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Two U.S. warships linked by history and three oceans pulled into Naval Station Norfolk on Saturday, closing out the longest carrier strike group deployment in more than five decades. The USS Gerald R. Ford and the guided-missile destroyer USS Winston S. Churchill completed a record-breaking 326-day mission that carried them from the Arctic to the Middle East, through NATO exercises, a naval blockade of Venezuela and combat strikes against Iran.
The roughly 4,500 sailors who deployed as part of the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group had been at sea since late June 2025, a stretch that surpassed any comparable carrier deployment since the final years of the Vietnam War. Only USS Coral Sea in 1964 and USS Midway in 1972 have deployed longer for national tasking in the past six decades.
Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine acknowledged the strain carried by those who waited ashore. Families had braced for the standard seven-month rotation only to watch it extend well past the year mark, a prolonged absence that, as Kaine put it, "puts huge pressure on families."
The Ford and the Churchill began their journey together in the final days of June 2025, though they departed from different ports. Churchill, homeported at Naval Station Mayport, Fla., got underway June 21, three days before the Ford pushed off the pier at Norfolk in record-breaking summer heat, her crew in whites and manning the rails as the carrier moved through thick Virginia haze on the James River.
The two ships converged in the Atlantic and transited the Strait of Gibraltar on July 19, 2025, alongside the Spanish frigate ESPS Canarias and the fast combat support ship USNS Supply, before integrating with the Italian frigate ITS Spartaco Schergat. On August 4, the Ford and Churchill made a scheduled port visit to Marseille, France, before pushing north.
By mid-August, the strike group was operating in the North Sea, and by September it had moved into the High North and Norwegian Sea for Neptune Strike 2025, a NATO exercise involving 10,000 sailors, soldiers, aviators and marines from 13 nations. The drills included carrier-based air missions, amphibious landings in southern Italy, submarine patrols, surface warfare and mass casualty exercises.
By late October, the strike group had turned west, crossing the Atlantic to the Caribbean, where it took part in an unprecedented naval buildup under U.S. Southern Command. The Churchill, as one of the Ford's primary escorts, was part of the force that enabled Coast Guard members, Marines and sailors to launch operations seizing sanctioned oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela.
That quarantine began December 10, 2025, and the campaign culminated in the capture of former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.
After more than 100 days in Southern Command, the strike group reversed course for the Middle East, joining the U.S. buildup ahead of Operation Epic Fury, the strikes against Iran. In March, while operating in the Red Sea, a laundry room fire aboard the Ford forced the carrier out of the theater, with more than 200 sailors treated for smoke inhalation.
Churchill and the rest of the escort remained with the group as it made for repairs in Crete and Croatia. Around one month after the fire, on April 17, the Ford was back in the Red Sea, with Churchill in company, participating in the U.S. offensive against Iran amid ceasefire negotiations.
The Churchill brings a singular distinction to the fleet. Named for Sir Winston Churchill at the announcement of President Bill Clinton during a 1995 address to the British Parliament, she was the first U.S. destroyer and only the fourth American warship ever named after a British citizen.
As a standing courtesy to the United Kingdom, a member of the Royal Navy is permanently assigned to the Churchill's crew, a tradition that held throughout the 11-month deployment. The ship is commanded by Capt. Judson Mallory and was part of Destroyer Squadron 2, embarked on the Ford and commanded by Capt. Mark Lawrence.
The Ford was commanded by Capt. Dave Skarosi. The air component of the strike group, Carrier Air Wing 8, was commanded by Capt. Jacob Rose and comprised nine squadrons of fighter, electronic attack, airborne command and control, logistics and helicopter assets drawn from bases across Virginia, Florida and Washington state.
It was not until May 6, day 317 of the deployment, that the Ford transited the Strait of Gibraltar for the fourth and final time, entering the Atlantic homeward bound. The Churchill was alongside for that final crossing, as she had been for much of the preceding 11 months.
The other destroyers in the strike group rotated in and out over the course of the deployment. USS Mahan and USS Bainbridge deployed alongside the Ford and Churchill from the outset in June 2025. USS Forrest Sherman deployed separately from Norfolk on May 6, 2025, and returned December 11, 2025. USS Mitscher joined the group on July 25, 2025.
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