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Supercarrier USS Ford Nears Staging Area for Caribbean Campaign

USS Ford
USS Gerald R. Ford under way, Nov. 2025 (USN)

Published Nov 12, 2025 2:36 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

The supercarrier USS Gerald R. Ford has entered the U.S. 4th Fleet area of responsibility and is headed towards the Caribbean, where she will join a growing naval presence off the coast of Venezuela. She is accompanied by destroyers USS Bainbridge, USS Winston S. Churchill and USS Mahan. 

Ford is the world's largest carrier and the most expensive warship of all time. At $13 billion for the first hull, before post-delivery repair costs, she competes with Shell's Prelude LNG for the record of most expensive vessel of any kind. Last month, Ford was ordered to return from the Mediterranean promptly in order to join the task force in the southern Caribbean, aligning with media reports of a possible strike plan in the making for targets in Venezuela. 

“The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,” said Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell. “These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations.”

Ford is carrying four squadrons of F/A-18 Super Hornet strike fighters, one squadron of the E/A-18 Growler anti-air-defense variant, and various support aircraft. She is not equipped to carry the F-35 stealth fighter. 

Open-source satellite intelligence analysis shows that Ford is joining a substantial military presence in the area, including some assets rarely seen. The covert special forces base ship MV Ocean Trader - civilian-crewed, unmarked and never revealed on AIS - has been spotted off Grenada this week, per MT Anderson and other established analysts. This shadowy vessel is known to have landing capacity for heavy helicopters, accommodations for 160 supernumeraries for 45 days, underway replenishment capability, an onboard SCIF, machine gun mounts, and launch and recovery capacity for jet skis and RIBs. 

Military officials have confirmed the Ocean Trader's presence in the region to Task & Purpose, and she has been photographed taking on supplies in Ponce, Puerto Rico - showing the running rust of a long deployment with little underway maintenance.