Trump Sends USS Gerald R. Ford to South America, Leaving No US Carriers in Middle East or Europe

President Donald Trump's order to deploy the USS Gerald R. Ford—the U.S. Navy's most advanced aircraft carrier—from the Mediterranean to waters off South America has left the Middle East and Europe without a deployed U.S. carrier for the first time in years, signalling a sharp pivot toward countering drug cartels near Venezuela.

Announced by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth on October 24, 2025, the carrier strike group—including five destroyers and nine aircraft squadrons—bolsters an existing force of eight warships, a submarine, F-35 jets in Puerto Rico, and Marines, adding ~4,500 sailors to combat "narco-terrorism". With the USS Nimitz returning from the South China Sea for decommissioning after crashes and the USS Theodore Roosevelt in San Diego for exercises, only one carrier remains active globally, raising alarms amid Gaza flare-ups threatening Trump's brokered Israel-Hamas ceasefire.

The move escalates Trump's campaign, which has sunk 13 alleged drug boats since September—killing at least 57—in the Caribbean and Pacific, targeting groups like Tren de Aragua, designated terrorists under Maduro's alleged control. Trump justifies strikes under post-9/11 authority, declaring cartels "unlawful combatants" in an "armed conflict," with Sen. Lindsey Graham endorsing potential land operations: "We're going to blow them up... and expand to the land." Secretary Rubio insists it's counter-narcotics, not invasion, amid a $50M bounty on Maduro for narcoterrorism.

Maduro decries a "fabricated war", mobilising militias and Russian Igla-S missiles, while experts like the Atlantic Council's Geoff Ramsey warn of a "Libya-style meltdown" if regime change sparks chaos. Bipartisan lawmakers question congressional oversight, with failed war powers votes, as CSIS's Mark Cancian notes the Ford's scarcity: "a lot of pressure to send it elsewhere" if Iran or Russia flares.

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This hemispheric focus—echoing Trump's "America First"—trades Middle East/Europe deterrence for Western Hemisphere security, risking overstretch as adversaries watch: China in the Pacific, Russia in Ukraine, and Iran in Gaza.

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