The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, which arrived in Caribbean waters to support the US deployment to dismantle alleged criminal organizations, is the largest aircraft carrier in the world, with a capacity of 4,500 crew members and 70 aircraft.
Described by the US Navy as “the world’s most capable, versatile and lethal combat platform”, construction began in November 2009. It was launched on November 9, 2013 at the Newport News (Virginia) Army Shipyard, and entered service on July 22, 2017 in a ceremony presided over by Donald Trump, then in the early months of his first term.
Length, reinforcement and explosion resistance
The USS Gerald R. Ford is over 335 metres, and is nuclear powered. It has a pioneering aircraft catapult system for electromagnetic take-off, advanced radars, and nuclear reactors that continuously power the ship’s engines.
With a weight that can reach 100,000 tons, it carries weapons such as ESSM self-defense missiles and the CIWS short-range weapons system. Its cost amounted to about 13 billion dollars.
During its testing period, the USS Gerald Ford withstood the impact of three underwater explosions known as shipwide shock tests in 2021, which demonstrated its ability to withstand powerful impacts and continue operating in extreme conditions.
This ship inaugurated a new era in the design of aircraft carriers in the United States, as it was the first of a new class, the Gerald Ford, the next generation of the Nimitz class, which entered service between 1975 and 2010.
The North American Navy currently has eleven aircraft carriers, ten of which are Nimitz-class, as well as the USS Gerald R. Ford.
Who is Gerald R. Ford?
The ship is named in honor of the 38th President of the United States, Republican Gerald Rudolph Ford, who served in the White House between August 1974 and January 1977, after Richard Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal, and pardoned him immediately after taking office, and after only nine months as Vice President.
To date, Gerald Ford has been the only Vice President and President of the United States to hold office without being elected by the Electoral College. In 1976, he defeated Ronald Reagan in the Republican Party elections, but lost the presidential election to Democrat Jimmy Carter.
Gerald Ford was born in Omaha (Nebraska) on July 14, 1913, a lawyer, and died on December 26, 2026.
Edited by Enrique Lopez with information from EFE and US Navy
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