USS Abraham Lincoln Leaves the Middle East After Record Time at Sea
Carrier heads for a Thai port call after more than 270 days without a declared port visit
The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has left the Middle East after almost seven months and is now operating in the area of responsibility of the US 7th Fleet, with the strike group and the embarked Carrier Air Wing 9 in the Indian Ocean as of Saturday.
The strike group has been deployed for 274 days. Lincoln left San Diego on 25 November and made its last declared port call on 11 December at Guam, leaving it at sea for more than eight months since that visit. Previous carrier strike groups in the region have made unannounced port calls, and it is not clear whether Lincoln did so. The stretch without a declared call broke the 206-day record set by the crew of USS Dwight D. Eisenhower during the pandemic.
The ship is now headed for what the Royal Thai Navy described as a routine port visit for rest and recreation in eastern Thailand. The exact location was not specified, although US carriers have historically called at Laem Chabang, which has the wharfage and water depth for a vessel of that size and lies about two hours from central Bangkok. The US Navy has not confirmed the port call.
The deployment drew national attention after families of crew members complained publicly about conditions on board. Their accounts described food rationing, resupply constraints and fatigue, with consequences for morale. The wife of one crew member said her husband had gone overboard on 3 August and was recovered safely after an hour in the Arabian Sea; three US officials confirmed the account, one adding that he had donned a life vest before the jump and was uninjured. Separate reports indicate at least one further crew member attempted to jump and was restrained.
Logistics compounded the problem. With Middle East hubs constrained by the threat of Iranian strikes, Navy logistics vessels had to travel thousands of miles to bring food and fuel to ships in the Arabian Sea. US Central Command officials said the strike group had difficulty resupplying earlier in the year but had since established better supply lines.
The Pentagon diverted USS George Washington, the forward-deployed carrier attached to 7th Fleet, to take Lincoln's station, leaving the Western Pacific without a carrier presence. Navy leadership has generally denied reports of morale problems. Navy Secretary Hung Cao said the crew "crushed their deployment and will return home soon as part of a planned rotation."
