The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier and warship, along with the USS Bainbridge, a guided missile destroyer, officially departed the Mediterranean for the Caribbean Tuesday morning, according to a U.S. defense official, as both vessels made their way to South America.

The carrier completed its transit of the Strait of Gibraltar Tuesday, a move that was made in support of the U.S. military’s increasing footprint in the region.

The Pentagon announced in an Oct. 24 social media post it would be sending the carrier and its strike group to the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility in support of counternarcotics efforts.

“The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activit

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