The USS Gerald R. Ford, the United States’ (and the world’s) largest aircraft carrier, has arrived in the Caribbean Sea. The deployment comes amid growing tension surrounding Venezuela and is part of the Trump administration’s intensified military operations targeting alleged drug trafficking and criminal networks.
According to a report by TRT World published on Monday (17 November), the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) announced the deployment on Sunday. They said the move was taken under the instructions of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to support President Donald Trump’s initiative. The purpose is to dismantle criminal networks considered a threat to U.S. national security.
The USS Gerald R. Ford hosts over 4,000 sailors and dozens of fighter aircraft. In the Caribbean region, it will coordinate with other U.S. military units including the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and a Marine Expeditionary Unit.
These forces fall under the newly formed Joint Task Force Southern Spear, which is focused on destroying criminal networks, SOUTHCOM confirmed.
Alongside the carrier is its complete strike group—Carrier Air Wing Eight with nine squadrons, the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Bainbridge and USS Mason, and the air defense command ship USS Winston S. Churchill.
On Sunday, SOUTHCOM also announced that U.S. forces had carried out another naval strike in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing three suspected drug traffickers. The statement added that under Hegseth’s orders, the Southern Spear task force conducted this lethal operation against a vessel controlled by a “designated terrorist organization.”
Based on U.S. intelligence, the vessel was involved in narcotics transport and traveling along a known drug trafficking route.
The deployment of the aircraft carrier in the Caribbean Sea is widely seen as a response to rising tensions around Venezuela. The so-called U.S. anti-drug military operation began in September after an attack on a Venezuelan speedboat, later expanding to the eastern Pacific by the end of October.
Since the start of the operation, at least 21 strikes have been carried out, resulting in the deaths of 82 individuals linked to drug trafficking.
