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The USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) aircraft carrier strike group has taken an unusual route around Southern Africa to join the U.S. naval presence in the Arabian Sea, bypassing the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb Strait due to risks of Houthi attacks, U.S. Naval Institute (USNI) News reported.
Meanwhile, the USS Gerald R. Ford separately broke the record for the longest aircraft carrier deployment since the Vietnam War, reaching its 295th consecutive day at sea across operations in Venezuela, the Mediterranean and the Iran war.
The USS George H.W. Bush and its escort ships are currently operating off the coast of Namibia after departing two weeks ago and taking an alternative route that avoids the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, according to defense officials cited by USNI News.
The rerouting is designed to avoid the Houthi attack corridor that has repeatedly struck shipping in those waters.
The carrier is heading to the Arabian Sea to join a growing U.S. naval presence enforcing the blockade of Iranian ports, which took effect Monday at 1400 GMT.
CENTCOM said the blockade would be enforced "impartially" against ships of all countries entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman.
The USS Gerald R. Ford surpassed on Wednesday the previous post-Vietnam record of 294 days set by the USS Abraham Lincoln during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, according to data compiled by U.S. Naval Institute News.
The Ford departed its home port in Norfolk, Virginia, in June 2025, heading to the Mediterranean. It was rerouted to the Caribbean in October as part of the largest naval buildup in the region in generations, participating in the operation to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in January.
It then turned toward the Middle East as tensions with Iran escalated, participating in the opening days of the Iran war from the Mediterranean before transiting the Suez Canal into the Red Sea in early March.
A fire in one of the carrier's laundry spaces forced the ship to return to the Mediterranean for repairs. The New York Times (NYT) reported the fire lasted more than 30 hours, leaving more than 600 crew members sleeping on floors and tables after their berthing spaces were damaged.
Democratic Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, cited by The Associated Press (AP), stated that the record-breaking deployment had taken "a serious toll" on the mental health and well-being of the crew.
"They should be home with their loved ones, not sent around the world by a president who acts like the U.S. military is his palace guard," Kaine said.
Pentagon officials have not said how long the Ford will stay deployed. However, the Navy's two highest-ranking officers have publicly said they expect an approximately 11-month deployment, suggesting a return to home port in late May.
Adm. Daryl Caudle, the Navy's top officer, said at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event in March: "You're going to see a record-breaking deployment by Ford."
He had previously told reporters he would "push back" on extending the Ford further.
The Ford's 295-day deployment falls short of Cold War records; the now-decommissioned USS Midway was deployed for 332 days in 1972–73 but is the longest post-Vietnam deployment by a carrier.
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