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The USS Gerald R Ford – designed to make enemies "shake with fear" – had been tailed for two days by Russian intelligence gathering ship the Viktor Leonov.

The newest and most expensive class of US aircraft carrier had problems with its steering while being pursued off the east coast of the US, a source close to the Navy told Daily Star Online.

The £12.6bn ($17.5bn) CVN-21 class supercarrier was performing trials of its new systems at sea before returning to Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, its homeport, at the end of January.

A missile-guided destroyer, the USS Cole, sent to track the Viktor Leonov was forced to intervene when the high-tech Russia spy ship sailed too close to the Ford, the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

It is understood the USS Cole was prompted to get in between the Ford and the Russian ship, whose crew has access to anti-aircraft missiles and turret cannons for last-resort self-defence.

Travelling at speeds in excess of 30 knots (35mph), the Ford was chased by the Cold War-era Russian boat for two days before heading back to Norfolk for repairs to its steering, the source said.

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Fitted with sophisticated spy equipment that can intercept sensitive communications, the 300ft long Vishnya class vessel was taking pictures of the Ford during the pursuit, according to the source.

A spokesman for the US Fleet Forces Command told Daily Star Online the USS Cole was actively tracking and monitoring the Viktor Leonov's activities.

The spokesperson said USS Ford returned to port for "maintenance" on January 26 after training at sea, but disputed claims about the two-day pursuit and the mechanical failure.

As Washington seeks to reassert its military dominance over Moscow, the claims may prove embarrassing for the US Navy and Trump, who commissioned the Ford on July 22, 2017.

When Trump handed over the 1,106ft long, 250ft high aircraft carrier, he said the nuclear-powered ship will send a “100,000-tonne message to the world” about US military power.

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Speaking at the commissioning ceremony at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, Trump said enemies of the US will “shake with fear” when they see the Ford looming into view.

“American is coming and America is coming strong,” he added, hailing the “American hands” and “American Steel” that made the 24-deck ship.

Yet his comments have not deterred the Russians, whose spy ship is understood to be conducting a four-to-six-month intelligence gathering operation off the US east coast.

One source familiar with the Ford incident has called on Trump to “confront” Russian president Vladimir Putin over the “aggressive” actions of the SSV-175 class vessel.

“Russia has been buzzing our ships a flying dangerously close to our aircraft and Trump appears to be doing nothing,” the source said.

“Something must be done.”

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When told about the extraordinary claims, Kier Giles, a Russian military expert at the UK-based Chatham House think-tank, said aggressive maneuvering by a Russian ship “wouldn’t surprise me at all”.

Under Putin’s leadership, Russia has been “pushing the boundaries wherever it possibly can” since its annexation of Crimea in 2014, he told Daily Star Online.

He said Russia is reacting with “increasing urgency” to the perception that it is “actually already in a state of conflict with the US, NATO and the West in general in every domain except outright military combat”.

“They see themselves already, effectively, at war,” he added.

Interactions such as the stand-off between the Russian spy ship and the Ford are “just symptoms” of that perception of confrontation, he said.

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One month after being sworn in as US President, Trump referenced the Viktor Leonov during a press conference in which he waxed lyrical about his approach to Russia.

Speaking to reporters at the White House, he suggested the “greatest thing I could do is shoot that ship that's 30 miles offshore right out of the water” but said that option was “not great”.

Trump said he preferred to “make a deal”, allowing the spy boat to loiter along America’s Atlantic coast near military and naval installations in Cape Canaveral, King's Bay, Norfolk and New London between February and March.

Part of Russia’s northern fleet, the Viktor Leonov was spotted 30 miles south of Groton, Connecticut – home to a major submarine base – before heading south along the coast toward the Caribbean.

Similar trips were made by the crew of the Russian vessel, named after a WWII sailor and hero, in 2015, 2014 and 2012.

This year the Russian boat was first spotted in the Port-of-Spain, in Trinidad and Tobago, before heading north off the coast of Florida, where a US Navy base is situated, east of Jacksonville.

Just days later US military officials confirmed the spy ship was spotted 100 miles south east of Wilmington, North Carolina, in international waters.

The last confirmed sighting was 48 hours later, when maritime trackers told Daily Star Online a P-8A Poseidon “submarine killer” had been sent towards the vessel 24 nautical miles (27 miles) off the coast of Nolfolk, Virginia.

Currently, the whereabouts of the Vishnya class spy vessel is not known and in recent days, the US Navy has not released any updates on its movements along the eastern seaboard.

Steffan Watkins, a Canada-based naval security analyst, has been using open-source data to follow the movements of the Viktor Leonov through American waters and elsewhere.

US defence officials released information on the ship after Mr Watkins revealed details of its path from northeastern Russia through the English Channel in December.

Last week Mr Watkins told Daily Star Online the primary mission of the Viktor Leonov may be to spy on a large-scale Carrier Strike Group (SCG) naval exercise led by the USS Harry S Truman.

The drill, codenamed COMPTUEX, is an intensive, month-long training regime designed to prepare US Navy Carrier Strike Groups for battle before a deployment.

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Mr Watkins suggested gathering intelligence on the USS Gerald Ford – the US Navy’s flagship aircraft carrier – would have been one of the missions designated to the Russian spy ship.

The Ford was delivered to the US Navy on May 31, 2017 – two years behind schedule – and is expected to leave on her first deployment around 2020.

“USS Gerald R Ford was reportedly performing trials of its new systems off the east coast before coming back to Norfolk last week,” he said.

“One of the tasks assigned to Russian Navy Auxiliary General Intelligence vessel Viktor Leonov, as would be a secondary duty of any Navy ship, would be to observe and collect as much information about the Ford as presents itself, while performing other intelligence collection tasks.

“It is routine to collect pictures of an adversaries' ships when the opportunity presents itself.”

Giles, director of the Conflict Studies Research Centre, agreed that the main brief of the Viktor Leonov is to gather as much intelligence on the US military as possible.

Claims about the breakdown of the USS Ford will be deemed “not so much a victory as an opportunity” by the Russians, he said.

“They’ll want to know how the US Navy responds to it and what they do because gathering information on adversary behaviour is also a key part of what Russian is trying to do,” he said.

Contesting claims USS Ford suffered a mechanical failure, a spokesman for the US Fleet Forces Command said the ship returned to port in Norfolk for “routine maintenance”.

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But a damning report by the Pentagon, published in January 2018, shows the Ford is not immune to problems.

The “poor or unknown reliability” of essential systems show the ship is nowhere near ready for real combat missions, the report said.

A “failure” in one of the ship’s four main turbine generators – the main power system that keeps everything running – was also reported before it was delivered to the US Navy last year.

Asked when the Ford is next scheduled to be deployed, a US Navy spokesman said: “As a matter of policy, we do not discuss future operations.”

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Meanwhile, maritime traffic monitors show the USS Cole, which was following the Viktor Leonov, departed Naval Station Norfolk, where the Ford was docked, on the morning on February 6.

The USS Cole, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, turned off its transponder shortly after departing the naval base – home to 75 US Navy ships.

When shadowing the Viktor Leonov, the USS Cole was acting “in accordance with international laws and maritime customs”, the US Fleet Forces Command told Daily Star Online.

“The USS Cole was actively tracking and monitoring the Viktor Leonov's activities as USS Ford returned to port,” a spokesman said.