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The aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford is scheduled to return to Naval Station Norfolk from its inaugural deployment on Saturday.
The carrier, which was commissioned on October 4, and its strike group are engaged in air defense, anti-subsurface warfare, distributed maritime operations, and have carried out the transition of authority to NATO during their tenure.
It is designed to prepare the carrier for a longer, more typical deployment next year and to familiarize the crew with the ship’s new technologies, according to 2nd Fleet Commander Vice Adm. Daniel Dwyer.
The short, sustained service deployment meant that Ford’s strike group was managed under the authority of Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday, rather than a geographic combatant commander, as would be the case in a global force management deployment.
“The service’s historic deployment is an opportunity for the US Navy to join forces with other members of the NATO alliance to exercise and train within the Atlantic and its littorals while testing advanced technology on the first new class of US aircraft carrier in more than 40 years,” said Dwyer.
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The carrier conducted port visits to Halifax, Canada, and Portsmouth, United Kingdom, while deployed, and operated alongside ships from Canada, The Netherlands, Denmark, France, Germany, Spain, Finland, and Sweden .
The carrier is also one of five allied aircraft carriers that operated together this month with the US 6th Fleet to foster interoperability between NATO allies.
“It’s not enough for the United States Navy to just operate, and operate the same way; we have to keep getting better,” said Ford’s commanding officer, Capt. Paul Lanzilotta to reporters in October. “So, I need to be able to provide objective, tangible things that our Navy can do to make us do better.”
Ford’s carrier strike group included the destroyers Ramage, McFaul and Thomas Hudner, the cruiser Normandy, the replenishment oiler Joshua Humphreys, the dry cargo ship Robert E. Peary and the US Coast Guard cutter Hamilton.
The carrier was originally scheduled to be deployed in 2018, but encountered numerous technical problems, equipment malfunctions and delays as at least 23 new technologies were incorporated into the design after construction of the ship began in 2005. Systems such as advanced weapon elevators and the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System also experienced challenges.
However, Lanzilotta said he believes the Advanced Weapons Elevator is proving to be the most important and influential.
“They legitimately moved more ordnance faster than the older ships,” Lanzilotta said. “And that’s an important enabler for warfighting.”
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