Higseythe Receives Aircraft Carrier 'Gerald Ford' Today After 11-Month Mission

SadaNews - The U.S. Department of Defense (Pentagon) announced that Defense Secretary Pete Higseythe will welcome the world's largest aircraft carrier today, Saturday, upon its return from an 11-month mission.

The 326 days that the 'Gerald Ford' spent at sea is the longest deployment of an aircraft carrier in the past fifty years and the third longest since the Vietnam War, according to data collected by the 'USNI' news site, which is operated by the U.S. Naval Institute, a nonprofit organization.

The largest aircraft carrier deployment was in 1973 with the 'USS Midway' for 332 days, and in 1965 with the 'USS Coral Sea' for 329 days.

The Ford aircraft carrier participated in the military operation that led to the arrest of then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. It then witnessed more combat as it headed toward the Middle East amid rising tensions with Iran. While in the Red Sea, it also experienced a fire that kept it at sea for weeks in the Mediterranean.