USS Gerald Ford Gets To Southcom's Area Of Responsibility, Ramping Up Tensions With Venezuela

The USS Gerald Ford, the country's largest aircraft carrier, has arrived in the Southern Command's area of responsibility, according to new reports.

USNI News noted that the carrier, also the largest in the world, sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar on November 4 after staying off the western coast of Africa.

The outlet added that ship spotters detected the USS Bainbridge, an escort of the USS Ford, off the coast of Puerto Rico early Tuesday.

Late last week the U.S. also expanded its naval presence in the Caribbean with the deployment of the USS Gettysburg, a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser.

The U.S. Navy said the ship, which departed from San Juan, Puerto Rico, has a mission to "ensure stability, deter threats, and strengthen interoperability with naval forces across the Western Hemisphere."

The Gettysburg, launched in 1989 and commissioned in 1991, is considered one of the Navy's most technologically sophisticated surface combatants. It carries advanced Aegis radar and vertical-launch missile systems configured for anti-air, surface, and anti-submarine warfare.

At full complement, it operates with roughly 500 personnel. The ship recently completed a multiyear modernization effort that upgraded combat, weapons, and navigation suites.

In the meantime, the U.S. continued flying bombers off the coast of Venezuela. Last week, local Monitoreamos noted that the U.S. flew two strategic B-52H Stratofortress planes identified as TITO41 and TITO42.

The operation took place a week after the U.S. sent B-1B bombers close to the country, noting they turned off transponders while flying over the Caribbean and then turned them on again as they got closer to the Venezuelan shores.

Such aircraft had already flown close to Venezuela a week prior. The records contradicted Donald Trump denial that U.S. bombers had been sent near the country's shores. The B-1B is a supersonic heavy bomber capable of carrying cruise missiles and precision-guided munitions.