Worlds most powerful warship pushes into Arctic Circle
By Lisa West - September 9, 2025 3
The U.S. Navy’s most advanced carrier has spent the last two weeks operating at the edge of the Arctic Circle alongside a combined NATO flotilla, underscoring just how central the High North has become in great power competition.
From August 23 to September 8, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) Carrier Strike Group led a multinational force through the Norwegian Sea and waters southeast of Svalbard. The deployment brought together U.S., Norwegian, French, and German warships under both national command and NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 1.
Rear Adm. Paul Lanzilotta, commander of Carrier Strike Group Twelve, framed the deployment as part of a deliberate build-up of allied Arctic operations. “What we’re doing is a building block on the last three years of our U.S. Carrier Strike Groups’ work off the coast of Norway and in the High North seas with the Royal Norwegian Navy,” he said. “Our mutual understanding of each other’s naval priorities, perspectives, and methods ensures efficient and effective work whenever we operate together.”
The surface action group built around USS Bainbridge (DDG 96) and USS Mahan (DDG 72) was joined by Norway’s Thor Heyerdahl (F 314), France’s Aquitaine (D 650), and Germany’s Hamburg (F220). Coalition auxiliaries, USNS William McLean (T-AKE 12), HNoMS Maud (A 530), and FS Somme (A 631, kept the force sustained as it maneuvered across the High North.
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/worlds-most-powerful-warship-pushes-into-arctic-circle/
