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The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford sailed into the North Sea at the weekend. At the same time, aircraft from the US Navy landed at Gardermoen.
On 2 May, the US aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford left the dock in Norfolk, USA. The ship is on its first global mission.
At the weekend, the ship sailed through the English Channel and into the North Sea. There has been no official information from the US Navy about where the ship is headed. In social media, there is speculation as to whether the vessel will visit Norway and sail into the Baltic Sea to take part in the naval exercise Baltops 2023.
Dagens Næringsliv has also speculated whether the ship will make the trip to Norway.
“It may be that ‘Gerald R. Ford’ will stop by Oslo as well, but it is not possible to get confirmation,” wrote the newspaper’s commentator Sverre Strandhagen on 12 May.
On Saturday, two C-2A Greyhound aircraft landed at Gardermoen, according to Flightradar24, a website that tracks air traffic. The planes belong to the US Navy, and were on their way from Prestwick Airport in Scotland. This aircraft type is used for logistics on American aircraft carriers.
USS Gerald R. Ford is the first aircraft carrier of the Gerald R. Ford class. The US plans to build ten ships of the same class, which will replace the Nimitz-class ships in use today.
The aircraft carrier is 333 meters long and has a displacement (the weight of the water displaced by the ship, which is the standard unit of measurement for ship weight) of 100,000 tonnes. It is powered by two nuclear reactors. There is room for 75 aircraft on board, and the crew is over 4,500 people.
