USS Ford Strike Group Earns Presidential Unit Citation After Historic Cruise

NORFOLK, Va. — America’s newest commissioned aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) tied up at Pier 11 this morning after 326 days at sea, completing one of the longest deployment by a U.S. warship since the Vietnam War. Thousands of families crowded the pier. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was waiting pierside with a rare commendation for the entire strike group, Presidential Unit Citation, the first PUC of the Iran War, and a decoration the Navy doesn’t handed out lightly

Rear Adm. Gavin Duff, commander of Carrier Strike Group 12, told the crowd that 80 sailors held newborn children for the first time this morning.