The world's largest warship is casting a threatening shadow off the coast off Venezuela as Donald Trump warns US forces will "soon" conduct land strikes on the South American nation.
When the Pentagon sent the USS Gerald R Ford into the Caribbean last month, it came with a hefty military entourage.
More than 4,000 crew are aboard the US Navy's "best-in-show" carrier, living on what has been described as a massive floating city.
There are gyms, grocery stores and a galley that can prepare up to 18,000 meals daily, according to a report from The Military Show that toured the vessel last year.
There is even a statue of the ship's namesake — the 38th US president who served in the navy during World War II.
Up on deck, dozens of advanced fighter jets line an area spanning 1.82 hectares.
With Gerald R Ford sitting well within striking distance of Venezuela, anxieties have been mounting about how willing the US really is to exert its military power.
Tensions have been escalating between the two countries as the US ramps up its mission to combat "organised criminal narco-terrorists".
The US has carried out a series of strikes on suspected "drug boats", killing at least 99 people.
Mr Trump has been repeating warnings that land attacks could be next.
A look at the Gerald R Ford
At 337 metres, it is longer than the tallest building in Australia and surpasses the height of the Eiffel Tower.
It can support up to 90 jets, including several squadrons of F/A-18 Super Hornet fighters — the backbone of the US Navy — and EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft.
The Ford travels with a large strike group made up of escort vessels, including a "destroyer" squadron.
The destroyers carry an array of missiles, such as long-range land attack Tomahawks and ballistic missile defences.
Retired Lieutenant Charles Faint, chair for the Study of Special Operations at the US Modern War Institute at West Point, said the strike group had a wide range of air, sea and ground forces.
"Carrier strike groups are capable of launching aircraft, firing missiles, and sending ashore groups of Marines or special operations forces," he told the ABC.
The Ford was commissioned in 2017 to replace the Nimitz-class carriers, which are now 50 years old.
It was first deployed for combat in 2023, spending eight months in the eastern Mediterranean after the Israel-Hamas war broke out.
The US Navy said in January 2024 that the ship had been sent to the Mediterranean "to deter further escalation and support Israel in its right to self-defense".
A main difference between the carriers is how they launch aircraft — the Nimitz used steam catapults, whereas the Ford uses magnets.
The Ford has two nuclear reactors, which generate massive amounts of energy used to power an electromagnetic aircraft launch system.
The system energises coils under the deck to create a magnetic field that launches aircraft faster, further and more frequently, while carrying heavier weapons.
The US Navy boasts that the Ford's ability to project a large amount of firepower at any time makes it the world's most lethal carrier.
Build-up puts region on edge
When the Ford Carrier Strike Group arrived, the US already had a significant naval presence in the region deployed under the pretext of combating drug trafficking.
Now the US Navy says about 12,000 sailors and Marines are part of Operation Southern Spear.
The show of force equates to about 15 per cent of the entire US Navy, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
Elizabeth Dickinson, a senior analyst for the Andes region at the International Crisis Group, said the build-up had raised "a lot of anxieties" in Venezuela and the wider region.
"There's nothing that an aircraft carrier brings that is useful for combating the drug trade," she told the Associated Press when the carrier was deployed.
"I think everyone is watching this with sort of bated breath."
[map: where is the Gerald Ford]Since September, the US has carried out 26 known strikes on boats accused of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean, killing at least 99 people.
Four were killed in the most recent attack this week, the US military said.
Mr Trump has repeatedly threatened to move the operation into the next phase and begin strikes on narcotics being smuggled overland.
He told reporters at the White House this month, "it's going to be starting on land pretty soon".
Washington has accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of leading the alleged "Cartel of the Suns", which it declared a terrorist organisation last month.
He and his government have vehemently denied this claim.
Mr Maduro has insisted the real purpose of the US military operations is to force him from office and seize the country's oil reserves.
In an interview with Politico last week, Mr Trump was asked how far he would go "to take Mr Maduro out of office".
"I don't want to say that," the US president said.
"But you want to see him out?" Politico reporter Dasha Burns asked.
"His days are numbered," Mr Trump responded.
Mr Trump has been ramping up pressure on Mr Maduro, last week seizing a sanctioned oil tanker off the Venezuelan coast.
He has since ordered a "blockade" of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela, but it was unclear how he would impose the move.
On Sunday, local time, the US Coast Guard said it had engaged in an "active pursuit" of another sanctioned oil tanker in waters off Venezuela.
The Trump administration has said it does not recognise Mr Maduro, in power since 2013, as Venezuela's legitimate president.
He claimed a re-election victory last year in a national ballot that the US and other Western governments dismissed as a sham and which independent observers said the opposition won overwhelmingly.
Warship made for 'air attacks'
Analysis from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) questioned the use of an aircraft carrier for a counter-drug mission.
"Carriers are poorly suited for the surveillance tasks entailed with stopping drug smugglers," the Washington-based think tank wrote in a recent report.
"On the other hand, they are superbly suited for conducting air attacks and supporting amphibious landings."
Earlier this month, the US flew a pair of F/A-18 fighter jets over the Gulf of Venezuela.
Flight tracking data has continued to show US Air Force aircraft circling close to the country.
Orlando Pérez, professor of political science at the University of North Texas in Dallas, said it looked like the US had given itself "the infrastructure for a broader coercive campaign against the Venezuelan government".
"It gives the United States the ability to hit air defence sites, command and control nodes and regime targets inside Venezuela," he told ABC News Daily.
Venezuela's 'limited' military ability
Mr Trump has not ruled out putting boots on the ground in the event of a US attack on Venezuelan territory, but analysts say air strikes or drone attacks are more likely.
According to CSIS analysis, the US would need at least 50,000 troops for an amphibious landing or ground invasion, but it had "sufficient firepower" to conduct air and missile strikes against Venezuela.
Dr Faint from the Modern War Institute at West Point believes the main purpose of the carrier strike group deployment to the region was to act as a deterrent.
But if the US were to use the Ford for an attack, Venezuela would have "limited ability" to respond, he said.
Venezuela has been preparing for further escalation, recently adding 5,600 soldiers to its army.
Mr Maduro claims Venezuela has more than 8 million militia members and reservists, but analysts say the figure is unrealistic.
The International Institute of Strategic Studies estimates the force at 123,000 soldiers, 220,000 militia — a civilian arm of the military — and 8,000 reservists.
In the 2000s, the country used the windfall from an oil boom to spend billions on its military under Mr Maduro's predecessor, Hugo Chavez.
But much of Venezuela's military equipment is decades-old and lacking compared to America's sophisticated weaponry.
"They have a lot of equipment, much of it from Russia, but it is not very well maintained and is not going to be much use against something like a carrier task force," Dr Faint said.
ABC/wires
