USS Ford Shakedown Cruise Set To Shake Up The Navy, Russia And NATO

After five years in commission, the supercarrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) is finally deploying. The Navy, refreshingly open about the upcoming deployment, conducted several briefings before its “biggest and baddest” carrier leaves port in the coming days. But Navy leaders, likely reflecting both internal concerns about the new carrier as well as the wider geopolitical situation, are also being very closed-mouthed, offering few concrete details on the carrier’s first extended voyage away its homeport in Norfolk, Virginia.

While the Navy offered little on the vessel’s upcoming voyage through European waters—a first step in re-crafting the USS Ford’s decaying business case—the Navy also declined to answer questions “outside the scope of the upcoming deployment.”

The Navy’s operational reticence and evident inability to craft a bolder narrative might be a safe public relations strategy, but such flat public messaging fails to either boost the Navy’s wider image or detail just how America’s most expensive naval vessel is set to go from a yard-bound zero to a big-fleet hero.

Captain Paul Lanzilotta, the USS Ford’s commander, at a pier-side briefing, tried his best to build a sense of excitement, saying the ship intended to “use the entire Atlantic as our playpen.” He acknowledged the deployment will last months, and that the ship will make at least one port call somewhere in Europe. But that was about it as far as operational details.

Earlier, a somewhat contentious background briefing from America’s 2^nd Fleet leadership emphasized the collaborative nature of the deployment, saying that the USS Ford’s first patrol will be joined by “personnel from nine nations, 17 ships, one submarine, and 60 U.S. Navy aircraft.” Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, and Sweden will join the Ford as it sails through the stormy seas off Europe, working through the tough task of integrating with NATO units and ships from prospective NATO partners. But the big list of participants also setts up a few key NATO members up for disappointment at being excluded.

A Big Signal For Vladimir Putin

The impact of the deployment on European politics went undiscussed. But with the announcement of the USS Ford’s deployment breaking on the eve of Russia’s expected illegal annexation of Ukraine territory, Navy leaders, when pressed about the nature of the ship’s initial “service-retained deployment,” cited the first international cruise of the USS Enterprise (CVN-65) as a potential template, something sure to make Russian pulses beat a tad faster.

During the Enterprise’s initial 1962 deployment to Europe, the new carrier worked closely with European partners, conducting a range of standard carrier operations. While the carrier carried on a range of traditional carrier activities, the primary focus for the carrier was on working through simulated long-range nuclear strikes against defended targets.

Returning to America on October 11, the USS Enterprise went back out to sea just eight days later, serving as a battle-ready participant in the Cuban Missile Crisis—and one of the most serious confrontations of the Cold War.

While the Ford’s captain was sanguine about the European deployment, describing it as “just another step along the way of bringing this ship to combat readiness,” the USS Ford is operating in a tinderbox, and, according to the Navy, all the USS Ford’s systems are ready for “unlimited use” if Vladimir Putin’s crumbling regime attempts a “last gasp” provocation.

A Big Win For Nickolas Guertin?

While the Navy reassured reporters that the USS Ford was no longer a science experiment, there are signs that the Navy is still struggling to understand the $13.4 billion carrier.

The USS Ford is sailing with every type of aircraft expected to normally operate from the vessel (Attack aircraft, battle management aircraft, logistical support aircraft and helicopters), but the ship is apparently unable to deploy with a “full complement airwing,” In fact, the airwing’s size seemed to be in flux. Just days before the USS Ford is set to leave port, 2^nd Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Daniel Dwyer was apparently “still sizing the numbers,” saying “it will be a fairly full airwing, but not the complete air wing.”

The diminished air wing suggests that the USS Ford is bumping up against berthing limits. Last year, the Office of the Director, Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) warned that the Ford’s “berthing capacity is 4,660, or 1,100 fewer than Nimitz-class carriers” and that “berthing capacity for officers and enlisted will be exceeded with some variability in the estimates depending on the specific scenario examined.”

Given that the USS Ford is set to deploy with about 4,700 aboard, the prospect that the airwing is basically being ablated to fit extra staff, VIPs and contractors is something that cannot be discounted. It will, however, be a question for Nickolas Guertin, director of DOT&E and current nominee to serve as Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Research, Development and Acquisition. Once in the SECNAV’s office, he will likely take a proprietary interest in answering that question, as he seeks to understand just how the Navy has done in addressing prior DOT&E cautions about the USS Ford’s operational capabilities and testing deviations.

A Big Loss For UK and Norway?

The big parade of NATO participants was made even more interesting by those partners who were left out of the shakedown cruise. Given the emerging importance of the North Atlantic and Arctic, the unexplained failure to include Norway and the UK as participants in the USS Ford’s first cruise may shake up NATO.

Given that HMS Queen Elizabeth, one of the UK’s two new aircraft carriers, is currently at anchor in New York, the failure to include the UK in the USS Ford’s first cruise seems to almost be a deliberate snub. But then again, given that the UK’s new carriers have been punching far above their weight for years, the U.S. Navy may be wary of drawing too many embarrassing comparisons between the two types of flattops.

HMS Queen Elizabeth is a particularly painful contrast for America’s new carrier. Commissioned in 2017, the same year as the USS Ford, the UK’s plucky small carrier has made repeated months-long deployments, including a trip through the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean, the South China Sea, and the Western Pacific. The UK carrier also operates brand-new F-35 Lightning II’s, which the USS Ford is currently unable to host (F-35C’s might operate off America’s next Ford-class carrier, the USS John F. Kennedy (CVN 79)).

Norway, a key NATO partner who has, like the Baltic nations, suffered inexplicable—and likely Russian-instigated—failures of critical seabed infrastructure, is also a conspicuous non-participant in the Ford’s festivities. The Department of Defense certainly seems to be trying hard to build interest, sending Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro off to show the ship to a high-powered Norwegian delegation last week, but, apparently to no avail. Norway’s small naval force may just simply be too busy watching Russia’s Northern Fleet to escort a fledgling carrier around Svalbard.

The USS Ford may well not be ready for the stormy and contested waters in the northern latitudes. But there’s no need to rush. The Atlantic is a good playground, where the Ford, hopefully, will do well, and—unlike the old USS Enterprise—won’t be needed to go “toe-to-toe” with the Russians.