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USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78)

The GERALD R. FORD is the first ship in an all new class of aircraft carriers and the first ship in the Navy named after 38th President of the United States. A focus in the construction of the new carriers was laid on reducing maintenance-intensive systems thus decreasing the number of personnel required to operate the ships. The FORD carriers will be the first aircraft carriers designed with all electric utilities, eliminating steam service lines from the ship. New technologies employed aboard include the new A1B reactors, the Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS), Advanced Arresting Gear and Dual Band Radar.

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Crew List:

This section contains the names of sailors who served aboard USS GERALD R. FORD. It is no official listing but contains the names of sailors who submitted their information.

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• Click here to see which USS GERALD R. FORD memorabilia are currently for sale on ebay.

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USS GERALD R. FORD Cruise Books:

• Post-Delivery Test and Trials Cruise Book 2019-21

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USS GERALD R. FORD's Commanding Officers:

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USS GERALD R. FORD History:

USS GERALD R. FORD was delivered to the US Navy on 31 May 2017 and formally commissioned at Norfolk on 22 July 2017. In the initial months after commissioning, the ship qualified flight operations, beginning with the first arrested landing and catapult launch in late July 2017, and then rotated through post-delivery trials that matured the new launch and recovery systems, power architecture, and deck handling concepts.

From July 2018 the carrier entered a post-shakedown availability at Newport News Shipbuilding to correct early deficiencies and incorporate upgrades. That yard period concluded at the end of October 2019, returning the ship to sea for a sustained period of Post-Delivery Test & Trials (PDT&T), which the Navy closed out in April 2021. Over the summer of 2021, GERALD R. FORD completed Full Ship Shock Trials - three underwater explosive events on 18 June, 16 July, and 8 August - before beginning a follow-on Planned Incremental Availability (PIA) for repairs and modernization. The PIA wrapped up one day early on 28 February 2022, and in December 2021 the ship accepted the last of its eleven Advanced Weapons Elevators, clearing a long-running new-construction milestone.

With maintenance complete, GERALD R. FORD conducted integration events with Carrier Air Wing Eight and on 4 October 2022, departed Norfolk for a short, service-retained first deployment in the North Atlantic. During this period the ship ran the US-led exercise Silent Wolverine (8-12 November) with Canadian, Danish, French, German, Dutch and Spanish units; made its first foreign port visit at Halifax, Nova Scotia (28-31 October); then anchored off Portsmouth, United Kingdom (14-18 November), before returning to Norfolk on 26 November.

After workups through early 2023 - including completion of the strike group's Composite Training Unit Exercise on 2 April, GERALD R. FORD departed Norfolk on 2 May 2023 for its first full deployment to US Sixth Fleet. The itinerary included a high-north sequence under NATO command and a port visit to Oslo, Norway (24-26 May), followed by participation in Arctic Challenge 2023 air-maritime integration on 5 June. The carrier then anchored off Split, Croatia (26-27 June), and later conducted a scheduled visit off Trieste, Italy (19 September).

As regional tensions rose in October 2023, the GERALD R. FORD Carrier Strike Group shifted to the Eastern Mediterranean for presence and integrated operations with allies, including dual-carrier activity with USS DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (CVN 69) on 3 November. In early December the ship paused for a short logistics and liberty visit to Souda Bay, Crete (2 December), before resuming flight operations. GERALD R. FORD returned to Naval Station Norfolk on 17 January 2024 after an eight-month deployment that featured multiple NATO command periods and several port visits in Europe.

In 2025, the ship completed another full pre-deployment workup, with the Secretary of the Navy embarking during COMPTUEX (10-11 April). The strike group got underway for a scheduled deployment on 24 June, transited the Strait of Gibraltar with allied escorts on 19 July, and joined NATO's enhanced-vigilance activity Neptune Strike 25-2 in the Ionian and Adriatic seas in late July. Port calls during this period included Marseille, France (4-9 August), and a subsequent English Channel transit past the Cliffs of Dover (17 August) before continuing operations under Sixth Fleet tasking which included Neptune Strike 25-2 (July-September 2025) off Norway.

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• Click here to get a view of the deployments of USS GERALD R. FORD.

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Homeports of USS GERALD R. FORD:

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USS GERALD R. FORD Image Gallery:

The photos below were taken by me on October 30, 2010, and show the GERALD R. FORD under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding roughly one year after her keel was laid. Several modules can be seen next to the drydock.

The photos below were taken by me on May 6, 2012, and show the GERALD R. FORD under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the GERALD R. FORD under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding. The photos were taken on October 28, 2013 - roughly 1 1/2 weeks before the christening of the ship.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the GERALD R. FORD under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding on April 13, 2016.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the GERALD R. FORD under construction at Newport News Shipbuilding on October 13, 2016.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the GERALD R. FORD undergoing a six-month Planned Incremental Availability (PIA) at Newport News Shipbuilding on December 26, 2021.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show the GERALD R. FORD at Naval Base Norfolk, Va., on September 6, 2022.

The photos below were taken by me and show USS GERALD R. FORD anchored in the Solent off Portsmouth, UK, on November 16, 2022. The carrier left its homeport of Norfolk, Va., on October 4 for what the Navy calls a "service-retained" deployment meaning that the FORD will stay under the operational control of the US 2nd Fleet and will not be assigned to a regional commander. It's USS GERALD R. FORD's maiden cruise and Portsmouth is her first-ever overseas port of call. This deployment serves as a test of the carrier's advanced technologies prior to its first Global Force Management deployment in 2023.

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The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show USS GERALD R. FORD at Naval Base Norfolk, Va., on October 4, 2024.

The photos below were taken by Michael Jenning and show USS GERALD R. FORD anchored off Oslo, Norway, on September 14, 2025. Oslo is FORD's second port visit during her current deployment. The carrier departed Norfolk, Va., on June 24, 2025, and has since visited Marseille, France, before transiting the Strait of Dover into the North Sea on August 17, then executed High North operations above the Arctic Circle with NATO partners (Norway, Germany, France) from August 23-September 8., before arriving at Oslo on September 12.

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