{"id":46514,"date":"2024-02-14T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-14T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/02\/14\/uss-gerald-r-ford-leaders-look-back-on-maiden-and-extended-cruise\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T20:01:27","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T20:01:27","slug":"uss-gerald-r-ford-leaders-look-back-on-maiden-and-extended-cruise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/your-navy\/2024\/02\/14\/uss-gerald-r-ford-leaders-look-back-on-maiden-and-extended-cruise\/","title":{"rendered":"USS Gerald R. Ford leaders look back on maiden (and extended) cruise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In May, the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford pulled away from Naval Station Norfolk for its first full-length, combat deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That maiden cruise was a long time coming. Originally supposed to deploy in 2018, the carrier faced high-profile cost overruns, delays and concerns about some of the dozens of new systems onboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nonetheless, the ship left Virginia last spring and headed to the waters of U.S. European Command, ostensibly to steam on station as the Russia-Ukraine war raged nearby.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But six months in, and just weeks before the warship\u2019s scheduled return home, the Pentagon ordered the carrier to head to the eastern Mediterranean following the Palestinian militant group Hamas\u2019 Oct. 7 attack on Israel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As that war raged, and officials worried about the war spilling into a broader regional conflict, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered multiple extensions<\/a> to the carrier\u2019s deployment, and the crew spent an extra 76 days at sea helping to ensure that the Israel-Hamas war didn\u2019t boil over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Along the way, the Ford proved the worth of its 23 brand-new carrier technologies, including a jet launch system that didn\u2019t require steam. Leadership also learned that Ford\u2019s high-tech amenities meant far fewer sailors were needed to run the flattop on deployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
The Gerald R. Ford, front, and Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carriers sail in formation in the Mediterranean Sea on Nov. 3, 2023. (MC2 Jacob Mattingly\/US Navy)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A largely green crew also found its sea legs along the way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Capt. Matt \u201cFrancis\u201d Mulcahey, the Ford\u2019s executive officer, observing the Ford\u2019s sailors gain experience proved one of the most rewarding aspects while underway \u2013 given that it marked the first deployment for many of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll the 23 new technologies are great. It\u2019s amazing, and we gain all of these fantastic efficiencies, and capabilities,\u201d Mulcahey told Navy Times. \u201cBut at the end of the day, you still have to have the hard work of that sailor to get it done. It doesn\u2019t matter if it\u2019s powered by steam, or it\u2019s powered by electrons. It\u2019s got to be a sailor that makes it happen. And it was really cool just to see them mature from young, fresh-faced sailors to salty operators during the deployment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To hear the Ford\u2019s CO, Capt. Rick Burgess, tell it, those deployment extensions allowed the ship to participate in a meaningful mission, and came at a time when the ship and its crew were hitting their stride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t have a problem with the extensions, and a lot of people didn\u2019t either, because we were doing something meaningful and important, and our country needed us,\u201d Burgess told Navy Times in an exclusive interview aboard the Ford in Norfolk on Feb. 6.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTiming wise, when we were redeployed to the eastern Med, we were at the tail end of deployment, we didn\u2019t have a higher state of readiness, currency and proficiency at any other time than then,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the end, the Ford turned out to be \u201cthe right ship at the right time,\u201d Burgess said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The extensions placed the Ford and its strike group at the frontlines of the conflict as it provided flattop deterrence against any other regional actors who might look to spark a broader war out of the Israel-Hamas conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the destroyer Hudner, part of the Ford\u2019s carrier strike group, shot down an air drone in the Red Sea on Nov. 15<\/a> \u2013 the second of such engagements that continue presently.<\/p>\n\n\n\t