U.S. Southern Command confirmed on Nov. 11 that the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford had arrived in its area of responsibility (AOR), which encompasses Ibero-America from the southern border of Mexico to the tip of South America, including the Caribbean Sea, and the adjacent waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The Ford is accompanied by the guided-missile destroyers USS Bainbridge, USS Mahan, and USS Winston S. Churchill.
The exact location of the Ford is still not clear. Southern Command’s AOR extends eastward from the Caribbean to a few miles west of Cape Verde off the coast of Senegal in West Africa, a distance of approximately 2,500 miles. So, the Ford could still be some distance away, though according to the U.S. Naval Institute News, ship spotters detected Bainbridge off the coast of Puerto Rico early Tuesday, Nov. 11. Bainbridge sailed with Ford through Gibraltar on Nov. 4.
