Navy: USS Gerald R. Ford Set to Deploy in May, Kennedy Deployment Schedule Unaffected by Delivery...

First-in-class USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) is set to deploy the first week of May following the completion of a series of certification exercises, service officials said on Tuesday.

Ford returned on Sunday from its composite training unit exercise (COMPTUEX) that served as a month-long, high-pressure stress test for the carrier, air wing and its escorts ahead of its first world-wide deployment. Carrier Strike Group 4 engineered the test for Ford, Carrier Air Wing 8, its escorts and Carrier Strike Group 12.

While the Navy hasn’t said where it will operate, USNI News understands it will continue the consistent carrier presence in the Mediterranean Sea that the U.S. began in December 2021 ahead of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.

Last month, USNI News visited the carrier ahead of the graduation exercise. The chief test for the air wing was the carrier strike group’s blue water certification, which is the ability for the air wing to safely operate at sea and out of range of a land-based runway.