NORFOLK, Va. — The United States’ most advanced aircraft carrier left its base in Virginia on Tuesday for a regularly scheduled deployment that could position it near Israel after the U.S. inserted itself in Israel’s war to destroy Iran’s nuclear program.
The U.S. was already planning to deploy the carrier Gerald R. Ford when American warplanes bombed three Iranian sites early Sunday to support Israel’s goals. Iran retaliated with a limited missile attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar on Monday.
U.S. President Donald Trump said a ceasefire between Iran and Israel was still “in effect” on Tuesday, although he expressed deep frustration that both sides had violated the truce he brokered on Monday.
The fluid and potentially dangerous situation was on the minds of many families who cheered on the Ford as it slowly steamed away from its pier in Norfolk, with tugboats hugging the carrier’s hull and sailors lining the sprawling deck in their white dress uniforms.
“I’m nervous,” said Lindsey Young, whose 32-year-old husband, Michael Young, is an aviation maintenance officer. “Especially with everything going on in the world. And three kids, by myself, too.”
Young held the couple’s 10-month old baby, while her 8-year-old and 10-year-old stood nearby clasping small American flags. When her husband was away on his last deployment, Young said she had a severe allergic reaction, her car tire popped and the dog got hit by a car.
“He was safe — everything at home went wrong,” Young said with a laugh before adding that this deployment feels different “with Iran and everything going on right now.”
The Ford will sail for the European theater of command, which includes waters off Israel’s Mediterranean coast. The presence of the aircraft carrier and its accompanying warships gives Trump the option of a third carrier group in the Middle East if needed.
Rear Adm. Paul Lanzilotta, who commands the carrier strike group, told reporters they’re initially going to the European theater of operations but said, “we’re mobile and maneuverable.”
“Within one day, we can move this whole strike group 700-plus miles,” he said.
The Ford was previously sent to the Eastern Mediterranean to be within striking distance of Israel after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks in 2023. The carrier stayed in the Eastern Mediterranean while its accompanying warships sailed into the Red Sea, where they repeatedly intercepted ballistic missiles fired at Israel and attack drones fired at the ships from Houthi-controlled Yemen.
From November 2023 until January 2025, the Iranian-backed Houthis waged persistent missile and drone attacks against commercial and military ships in the region in what the group’s leadership described as an effort to end Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
U.S. Navy sailors saw incoming Houthi-launched missiles seconds before they were destroyed by their ship’s defensive systems. Pentagon officials talked last year about how to care for the sailors when they returned home, including counseling and treatment for possible post-traumatic stress.
The Houthi rebels had paused attacks on U.S. vessels in the Red Sea in May under a deal with the U.S., but recently said they would resume such attacks if the Trump administration joined Israel’s military campaign against Iran.
Lanzilotta said they’re “100% prepared” for any such attacks, while the Navy has been constantly updating its training with new information.
“I’m not going to get into the details of our tactics, techniques and the procedures,” he said. “But we absolutely did evolve our training for all of the threats that you might see.”
The Ford is the first in the Navy’s new class of advanced aircraft carriers, which are designed to carry a wider variety of planes and operate with several hundred fewer sailors. Nearly 4,500 sailors departed Tuesday in a strike group that includes guided-missile destroyers and several squadrons of fighter jets.
“I am not worried about our sailors — they’re extremely resilient,” the admiral said, adding that recent world events have bolstered personnel with a sense of even more purpose while reinforcing “why what we do is so important.”
Young, the Navy spouse and mother of three, said she knows her husband “is making a difference too. I know he’s his kids’ hero too.”
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