Long-Deployed Aircraft Carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln Set for Homecoming

John Ismay reported from Washington, and Jan Ransom from San Diego.

The aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, whose crew endured food shortages and mental health struggles prompted by a near-record 322-day deployment in support of the Iran war, is scheduled to return on Thursday to its home port of San Diego.

Thousands of friends and family members of the crew are expected to gather on the pier to greet the ship. By longstanding Navy tradition, sailors whose spouses gave birth during the deployment will be among the first to step off to meet their sons and daughters.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who flew to the Lincoln from San Diego on Tuesday to ride the ship for its final stretch, acknowledged the lengthy deployment in remarks to the crew, but criticized reports of logistics problems as overblown. He also awarded the crew the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest decoration that can be given to a unit of the Navy or Marine Corps for valorous service.

"There were a few folks in the media who tried to turn the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln into some sort of a symbol -- a symbol of dysfunction or a symbol of low morale or a symbol of a failed mission," Mr. Hegseth said, speaking into a microphone before a crowd of sailors. "And what I look out at right here and when I talk to your leadership -- and I've had a chance to talk to a number of you -- I know it is the exact opposite."

The Lincoln and other ships began experiencing logistical problems after Iran destroyed the Navy's main Middle Eastern hub in Manama, Bahrain, in response to the United States and Israel launching the war on Feb. 28.

With Iran's ballistic missiles able to hold all ports around the Arabian Peninsula at risk of attack, the Navy's warships in the region began to experience shortages of food, fuel and other goods as the service moved its supply hub to the British-owned island of Diego Garcia about 2,200 miles away.

The deployment for the Lincoln's 5,000-member crew began before the war, when it left San Diego on Nov. 21, 2025. It spent almost a month at sea before pulling into the naval base in Guam for a brief stop for supplies.

The Lincoln nearly broke the record for longest carrier deployment since the Vietnam War.

The Gerald R. Ford set that record with a 327-day deployment. But unlike the Lincoln's, the Ford's crew was able to disembark in ports across the Mediterranean and Caribbean before steaming to the Arabian Sea before the start of the war.

The war with Iran has placed the Navy's fleet of 11 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers under tremendous strain. Two carriers, the John C. Stennis and Harry S. Truman, are unavailable because of the refueling of their nuclear reactors. Another five have already played a role during the war. In July, the Ford entered a shipyard for long-delayed maintenance, and the 50-year-old Nimitz is scheduled to be decommissioned next year.

That leaves only the Dwight D. Eisenhower, the Carl Vinson and the Ronald Reagan as potentially available to deploy should the war, which is now in its eighth month, continue.

The pace of operations for the Lincoln and its crew during their extended deployment was unrelenting, as the ship played a major role in the air campaign over Iran. In August, a Navy official said that the ship launched more than 10,000 sorties and dropped more than 1.5 million pounds of ordnance during the conflict.

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Aircraft aboard the Lincoln also played a key part in enforcing Mr. Trump's blockade of Iranian ports.

In early May, an F/A-18 Super Hornet launched from the Lincoln fired its 20-millimeter cannon at the rudders of an Iranian-flagged tanker, the M/T Hasna, disabling the ship as it attempted to pass through the blockade line. A month later, another Super Hornet from the Lincoln fired a precision-guided munition into the engineering spaces aboard the Palau-flagged tanker M/T Marivex in the Gulf of Oman as it steamed toward Iran. The ship's 24 crew members were rescued by an Omani military helicopter.

In his remarks Wednesday, Mr. Hegseth said the extended deployment was worthwhile, crediting the crew with demonstrating enormous resilience.

"What makes the U.S. military and the U.S. Navy and all these sailors different is that you adapt and that you are resilient and you overcome," he added. "You finish the mission nonetheless. Yes, it's hard. That's why you're here, and you do difficult and hard things. But you believe in your heart in that mission."

"My heart only swells with pride just standing in front of all of you," he added.

The first indications of food shortages came from family members of Lincoln sailors, who sent reporters photos of meager meals served on the ship while supplies were running low. Many families tried to send their loved ones care packages to make up the difference, only to have their mail lost, destroyed or delivered months late.

The reports rankled Navy leaders, who downplayed the problems.

In a social media post in August, the Navy's acting secretary, Hung Cao, accused reporters of presenting Lincoln's sailors as "victims." Six days later, the carrier left the Arabian Sea to begin its journey home after another carrier, the Japan-based U.S.S. George Washington, took its place.

The next month, in response to questions from Democratic lawmakers, Mr. Cao acknowledged that eight sailors from the Lincoln strike group had tried to take their own lives. One jumped overboard, and another tried to do so before being stopped by shipmates.

When asked on Aug. 14 about the reported problems aboard the Lincoln, Mr. Trump dismissed the concerns raised by the families of crew members. When pressed about whether he was worried about the crew's mental health and whether he thought the deployment had gone on too long, the president said, "No. No. No." He added that the deployment -- then more than eight months long -- had not been "nearly long enough."

In all, the Lincoln's crew spent nearly nine and a half months at sea without a break until the Lincoln pulled in to Pattaya, Thailand, on Sept. 2 for five days of rest.

On Sept. 18, the Lincoln reached U.S. soil during a brief stop in Guam. The crew was allowed to get off the ship so long as they stayed on the naval base there.

The ship's arrival is expected to be a moment of celebration.

Jack Buckley, a sailor who operates a boat tour company, will escort friends and family of crew members as the ship makes its way through the San Diego Bay.

"When the sailors are lined up on the railing, we will be there waving them in," said Mr. Buckley. "The families with me -- every one of them have a son or daughter onboard. It's going to be exciting and emotional for them."

Mr. Buckley said there would likely be up to 200 private and charter boats on the bay as the Lincoln approaches.

"The Abe Lincoln has been gone for a long time," he said, "and it's great to have them back."