Norfolk-based ships remain at the center of a widening conflict in the Caribbean, months after their deployments.
The USS Ford Carrier Strike Group has been in the region since November, but it left Norfolk six months ago after first deploying to Europe. The 4,500 sailors and Marines of the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group have been in the region for five months.
Their mission has been difficult to track. The Pentagon has not given a formal briefing on Operation Southern Spear. The mission to interdict drugs has killed at least 105 people on small boats, which the Trump administration claims without evidence are carrying drugs.
The effort recently expanded to stop oil tankers coming out of Venezuela. At least two tankers have been seized, while the U.S. created an informal blockade off the coast.
In a radio interview on Friday, President Donald Trump said he ordered a strike on a facility on land that he said is tied to the drug boats. It would be a further escalation of the conflict.
The Military Times reports at least 15,000 U.S. troops are now in the region of the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, making it the largest build-up of U.S. forces in the region in at least a generation.
The Navy’s social media posts show the carrier USS Gerald R. Ford is still at the center of the operation. The carrier was launching F/A 18s the week before Christmas as well as hosting Coast Guard tactical teams.
The crew had time off at the beginning of the month. Its last public port visit was in the Virgin Islands from Dec. 1-5. At the same time, the other ships in the strike group, USS Mahan and USS Winston S. Churchill, made stops in Mayport, Fla. and Trinidad and Tobago, earlier in the month.
The Ford left Norfolk June 24. The Navy tries to limit deployments to six to seven months, but the carrier is still active in the region.
The Ford Strike Group spent nine months on its first deployment in 2023 and 2024 after the start of the war in both Ukraine and in Gaza. It is scheduled to go into maintenance early next year.
The Marines’ three ships of the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group left Norfolk in August. After being abruptly shifted to the Caribbean, the roughly 2,500 Marines of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit have been drilling with the Puerto Rico National Guard, including amphibious landings.
The New York Times reports in October, a helicopter from USS Iwo Jima picked up two survivors from the wreckage, after the U.S. targeted their suspected drug boat. This comes after the first boat strike in September, when commanders ordered a second strike to kill survivors, which has been the subject of Congressional inquiries.
A spokesman for the Navy said they do not comment on future movements and would not say how long the two ships are being extended into the new year.
