[USS Ford Crew Notified to Remain in the Middle East Until May] According to a report by Golden Finance citing The New York Times, the U.S. aircraft carrier USS Ford, which arrived in the Middle East from the Caribbean region, is now in its tenth month of deployment. If it remains at sea until mid-April, it will break the post-Vietnam War record for the longest aircraft carrier deployment. The current record is 294 days, set by the USS Abraham Lincoln in 2020. Crew members aboard the USS Ford have been notified that their deployment may be extended until May, which would mean they will spend an entire year at sea—double the normal deployment duration for aircraft carriers. During the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the U.S. Navy occasionally deployed aircraft carriers for nine months or even longer. However, under normal circumstances, deployment durations typically do not exceed six months. Naval experts have stated that deployments exceeding six months are extremely challenging for both the vessels and their crews.