The USS Gerald R. Ford , the U.S. Navy’s most advanced nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, has entered the Atlantic Ocean after transiting the Strait of Gibraltar on Tuesday.

The Ford had spent the past days resupplying and regrouping with its strike group elements in the Mediterranean Sea, according to ship-tracking data, ahead of its retasking to the Caribbean Sea, where the United States is staging a major military campaign against drug cartels in Venezuela.

Newsweek has reached out to the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) for comment.

Why It Matters

The U.S. has stepped up moves to counter drug trafficking in the waters off South America, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth placing the Ford Carrier Strike Group under the authority of the U.S. Southern Command. U.S. forces h

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