The world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald Ford, has re-entered Middle Eastern waters, according to two unnamed US defense officials cited by the Associated Press. The carrier, accompanied by destroyers USS Mahan and USS Winston Churchill, crossed the Suez Canal and is now positioned in the Red Sea. It had previously been stationed in the eastern Mediterranean but returned to port for repairs following a fire in one of its laundry rooms.

The redeployment of the Gerald Ford marks a renewed show of US naval strength in the region. The USS Abraham Lincoln is already deployed in the Arabian Sea, while another carrier, the USS George Bush, is reportedly moving toward the area and currently near the coast of South Africa. Officials also noted that the Gerald Ford recently set a record for the longest deployment of a US aircraft carrier since the Vietnam War.

The carrier last anchored at Croatia’s Split port on March 28, 2026, before resuming operations toward the Middle East.