WASHINGTON (AP) —The USS Gerald R. Ford has officially entered the U.S. Southern Command region, almost three weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth first announced he was ordering the aircraft carrier to aid in the campaign against alleged drug smugglers, according to a press release.
However, since the region’s borders reach well into the Atlantic Ocean, coming within a few hundred miles of Africa, it’s not clear just how close the carrier or its accompanying destroyers are to Caribbean waters. Multiple military officials wouldn’t offer further location details when asked by The Associated Press.
The Navy’s press release said the Ford and three destroyers — the USS Bainbridge, USS Mahan, and USS Winston Churchill — will join seven other ships, including three that carry a Marine Expeditionary Unit made up of thousands of Marines, that have been in the Caribbean for months.