“I will have to start making decisions to change training, operations, certification, events, those type of things we do to generate our force in the July timeframe,” Adm. Daryl Caudle told lawmakers, laying out a hard deadline the Navy faces if additional money does not arrive to cover the current pace of operations.
Adm. Daryl Caudle on the near-term funding squeeze
Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle warned the House Appropriations Committee that the Navy will begin to encounter financial limits this summer for routine but essential activities — training, certifications and events that generate ready forces. He tied that calendar directly to the “current pace of operations,” noting the service currently has two aircraft carriers deployed to the Middle East. Caudle confirmed to lawmakers that funds to cover those operations would come from a defense supplemental.
Rep. Ken Calvert pressing for rapid delivery of a supplemental
Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Calif., chair of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, told the committee the supplemental must be sent to Congress “as soon as possible.” Calvert pressed the point bluntly: “I don’t know who’s making this final decision to get the supplemental over here, but we need to get it over here,” he said, adding that both chambers will need to review it and that the Senate’s involvement will take time. Calvert framed the supplemental as an urgent priority even as lawmakers proceed with the regular defense appropriations “base bill.”
Operation Epic Fury’s bill: $29 billion and counting
Separately, the Pentagon’s acting comptroller Jules “Jay” Hurst told the Senate Appropriations Committee that costs tied to Operation Epic Fury in the Middle East have climbed to $29 billion. That assessment, delivered earlier on Tuesday, provides a concrete figure for the fiscal pressure lawmakers and Pentagon leaders are now negotiating how to address via supplemental funding.
USS Gerald R. Ford’s extended deployment and the maintenance math
Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao told the House Appropriations Committee that the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford will likely require “significantly more maintenance” after returning from a deployment that far exceeded normal lengths. Cao quantified the effect: “For every 30 days that the ship is extended on deployment, it adds 6 percent of maintenance, so five months extra would add 30 percent for maintenance,” he said.
The Ford departed Naval Station Norfolk in June 2025 and, as of Tuesday, had been at sea for a total of 323 days due to multiple extensions. That span eclipsed the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln’s previous record of 294 days at sea in 2019 and 2020 for the longest deployment since the Vietnam era. During the Ford’s deployment it operated in the High North with NATO allies and in the Eastern Mediterranean, then in the fall moved to the U.S. Southern Command’s region “to support the Trump administration’s naval buildup there,” prior to Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro’s ouster in January. In February, President Donald Trump announced the carrier would head east again to support operations in the Middle East, along with the Abraham Lincoln, as tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated. The Ford has since departed the Middle East and is now in the Atlantic, according to USNI News’ fleet tracker.
What this means for the Navy, Congress, and the deployed carriers
- The Navy: Operational tempo is producing explicit, time-bound choices. Unless the defense supplemental arrives, the CNO signaled the Navy will begin altering training, certifications and events in July to conserve funds while sustaining deployed forces.
- Congress: Lawmakers, led in the House by Rep. Ken Calvert, face pressure to receive and act on a defense supplemental quickly. Calvert emphasized that review by both the House and Senate will be necessary and urged prioritizing the supplemental even as the regular defense appropriations work continues.
- The carriers: The Gerald R. Ford’s historic, nearly 11‑month deployment carries a measurable maintenance penalty — Cao’s 6 percent per 30 days rule implies roughly a 30 percent maintenance increase for the five extra months cited — and signals higher repair and availability costs when the ship returns. The Abraham Lincoln was also named as part of the redeployment to the Middle East announced in February.
The Navy has put a month on the calendar: July is when leaders expect to begin making trade-offs unless funding arrives. Congress has been told the operations bill will be covered by a defense supplemental, and the Pentagon’s own accounting already assigns $29 billion to Operation Epic Fury. Between the deployment-driven maintenance math for the Gerald R. Ford and the explicit deadline the CNO set, the near-term choices are concrete: a supplemental must move through the process or the Navy will curtail training and other force-generation activities as early as July. “We need to get it over here,” Rep. Calvert urged — a simple, pointed demand that captures the immediate policy choice behind the numbers.
