USS Gerald Ford Returns After Historic Deployment, Crew Surprised With Major Honor: Navy

NORFOLK, VA – The USS Gerald R. Ford returned to Naval Station Norfolk Saturday, concluding the longest carrier strike group deployment since the Vietnam War.

According to the U.S. Navy, more than 4,500 service members returned home from the USS Gerald Ford Carrier Strike Group to 76 new babies who had been born during their 11-month deployment.

A report by the U.S. Naval Institute News catalogued the Ford’s travels during its 326-day deployment: leaving Norfolk in June 2025, joining NATO’s Neptune Strike exercise in September, crossing the Atlantic to the Caribbean Sea to support the U.S. raid on Venezuela, providing a launch pad for the seizure of other nations’ oil tankers off the Venezuelan coast, turning back to the Middle East to support U.S. attacks on Iran, and then suffering a major fire in the Red Sea. The Ford traveled to Crete for repairs, then conducted a port call in Croatia before returning to the Red Sea and staying in the Middle East until it left for home, passing through the Strait of Gibraltar on May 6.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth was on hand with Navy leaders to greet the returning sailors and to surprise them with the announcement that Carrier Strike Group 12 had been awarded the Presidential Unit Citation for their actions during their deployment, the Navy revealed in a series of social media posts.

The Presidential Unit Citation is the highest collective award a military unit can receive in the U.S. Armed Forces, according to Pentagon News. It is bestowed upon units for extraordinary heroism in combat and recognizes service that would typically merit an individual Distinguished Service Cross or Navy/Air Force Cross.

Hegseth told the sailors, "We do not hand this award out simply for performing your duties. It is earned through extraordinary heroism … To wear this ribbon is to tell the world that everyone in this formation fought with an indomitable spirit. You operate with grit and defiance that sets you apart. By your conduct, you have secured a current place in the hallowed lineage of our naval history.”

According to USNI News, the Ford Carrier Strike Group included the flagship Ford, 9 squadrons of Carrier Air Wing 8, and the Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Winston S. Churchill, USS Mitscher, USS Mahan, USS Bainbridge and USS Forrest Sherman.