USS Lincoln carrier returns to San Diego after record-long deployment
The US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is due back in San Diego today after 265 uninterrupted days at sea supporting the war on Iran. The deployment has fueled debate over conditions onboard.
The US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is set to arrive back at its home port of San Diego, California, today. The return ends a record-long deployment in which the ship spent 265 days at sea without a break, supporting American operations in the war against Iran.
An unplanned long deployment
The carrier, carrying roughly 5,000 sailors and marines, left San Diego in November 2025. It was initially headed for the Pacific and expected home in the spring. After the US and Israel launched their war on Iran in late February, however, the Lincoln was redirected to the Middle East.
Over the summer, reports surfaced of shortages of food and basic supplies, along with worsening mental health and morale among some crew members, including claims that two sailors had tried to jump overboard. Senior officials dismissed the accounts. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said they had "completely misrepresented" reality, and when asked in August whether the deployment had run too long, President Donald Trump replied, "Not nearly long enough" – a comment that upset some naval families.
The USS George Washington took over the Lincoln's role in the Middle East later in August. Last month, acting navy secretary Hung Cao acknowledged that eight service members from the Lincoln and its strike group had attempted suicide during the deployment.
Hegseth's visit
On Wednesday Hegseth flew out to the ship to present the crew with the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest honor a unit can receive, typically reserved for significant achievement in combat. He criticized "a few folks in the media" who, he said, were trying to turn the deployment into a symbol of dysfunction, low morale or a failed mission. He also said Trump had tracked the crew's activities from day one.
Families and veterans have warned that the length and intensity of the deployment weighed on both those onboard and their loved ones. For some, the Lincoln has become a symbol of the strain the conflict has placed on the US military.
