NAVAL STATION NORFOLK, Va. - More than 4,000 sailors are back home with their families following a near-two-month deployment aboard the Navy's newest aircraft carrier.
It was the first deployment for The USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), which docked at Naval Station Norfolk on Saturday morning.
With more than two-dozen new technologies aboard, including the electromagnetic launch system (EMALS), the USS Ford is the first in a new class of aircraft carrier.
“It feels awesome. I’m finally home and ready to see my wife, see my baby," Petty Officer Third Class Julio Agosto told News 3 before running into the arms of his wife and six-month-old child.
While overseas, sailors aboard the ship made stops in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Portsmouth, U.K.
It's taken years for the USS Ford — flagship of the Ford Carrier Strike Group — to get to this point, given all the new technology. While away, the ship trained and tested its ability to integrate with warships from other NATO countries.
The Ford's commanding officer says being able to operate so far from home is critical in ensuring the ship is ready for combat.
“The logistics piece alone, in terms of using all the systems without a very close tether to where the systems were built, is a big deal for us," Capt. Paul Lanzilotta told News 3. "Then welcoming in our allies to connect up with us, connect on video teleconferencing systems, use all of the tactics that the allies have developed over the years to be interchangeable is really exciting for the crew.”
Lanzilotta says the USS Ford will undergo some maintenance and modernization through the holidays, before heading back out to sea next year with a goal of leaving for another deployment sometime before the end of 2023.
