Hegseth Orders USS Gerald R. Ford to U.S. Southern Command

Aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), front, sails in formation with Royal Danish Navy Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate Niels Jeul (F363), second, the French Navy Aquitaine-class frigate FS Bretagne (D655), third, and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Mahan (DDG-72) and USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81), fourth and fifth respectively, Sept. 24, 2025. Gerald R. Ford is participating in NATO’s Neptune Strike. US Navy photo

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has tasked aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) and its escorts to U.S. Southern Command to support the Trump administration’s ongoing counter-drug efforts, a Pentagon spokesman said Friday on social media.

“The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere. These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs,” spokesman Sean Parnell wrote on X.

In a subsequent message, a Pentagon spokesperson said there was “nothing further to add” beyond Parnell’s statement.

As of Friday, Ford was in port in Split, Croatia, after arriving on Wednesday, according to ship spotters. Based on the carrier’s location, it will take at least one week for the carrier to sail across the Atlantic to reach the Caribbean, USNI News understands.

The Ford Carrier Strike Group deployed from Naval Station Norfolk, Va., in June with USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81), which is operating as the air defense commander, in addition to USS Bainbridge (DDG-96), USS Mahan (DDG-72), USS Mitscher (DDG-57) and USS Forrest Sherman (DDG-98) making up Destroyer Squadron 2. Carrier Air Wing 8 is embarked aboard Ford. It’s unclear which destroyers will make the journey with Ford to SOUTHCOM, a source familiar with the movements told USNI News.

As of Monday, USS Forrest Sherman (DDG-98) was operating in the Red Sea and USS Mitscher (DDG-57) was in the Arabian Sea operating independently from the strike group.

The order comes as the Trump administration has waged a campaign against what it describes as transnational criminal organizations. Since September, U.S. military forces have struck ten alleged narco-boats in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific, killing at least 43 people.

The Trump administration has provided little legal justification for the strikes. The administration describes the strikes as military self-defense operations under U.S. Title 10. Both Democrat and Republican lawmakers have raised questions about the strikes’ legality.

Earlier this month The New York Times reported that the Trump administration told Congress it considers those allegedly trafficking drugs “unlawful combatants.” Citing a memo to lawmakers, the newspaper said the administration considers the drug cartels engaging in an “armed attack against the United States,” according to the report.

Ford and the strike group will join U.S Navy warships in the region, including guided-missile destroyers USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109), USS Gravely (DDG-107), USS Stockdale (DDG-106), guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG-70), Littoral Combat Ship USS Wichita (LCS-13), and a nuclear attack submarine. In addition, amphibious warships USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7), USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28), USS San Antonio (LPD-17), with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit embarked. In addition, U.S. Air Force assets have been sent to Puerto Rico, including F-35 Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters.

The following is the Oct. 24, 2025, statement from Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell.

In support of the President’s directive to dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and counter narco-terrorism in defense of the Homeland, the Secretary of War has directed the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and embarked carrier air wing to the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility (AOR).

The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere. These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs.