US Navy’s largest aircraft carrier returning to US After it extends deployment in Mediterranean

The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group will leave the eastern Mediterranean Sea, where it was sent just after the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, in the "coming days," two US officials tell ABC News.

The Ford is the US Navy's newest and largest aircraft carrier and was nearing the end of its first operational deployment when it was redirected to the eastern Mediterranean the day after Hamas terrorists launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Israel on October 7.

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin sent the carrier and the five other surface warships to deter Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran from broadening the conflict regionally, saying at the time: "As part of our effort to deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts toward widening this war following Hamas' attack on Israel." In December, Austin extended the carrier's deployment for a third time to maintain that deterrence role as tensions in the region remained high.

A senior US official and a US official told ABC News that in the "coming days," the carrier and other surface ships that make up the strike group will return to the carrier's home port of Norfolk, Virginia, as originally scheduled so it could prepare for future deployments.

The senior US official stressed that the carrier's return will keep to that schedule and that even with the Ford's departure, the United States will still have a lot of military capability in the region and flexibility, including the deployment of additional cruisers and destroyers in the Mediterranean and the Middle East.

"We have nothing to announce today," said a Defense Department spokesman when contacted for comment.