Back from the Middle East, USS Abraham Lincoln is Home for the Holidays
Christmas came early for the crew of the United States Navy's USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72). "California dreams coming true," the official Facebook account for CVN-72 announced as the warship arrived home on Friday.
The fifth Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier is now back at her home port of Naval Air Station North Island following a five-month deployment that included operations in the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibly.
Unexpected Deployment to the Middle East
The USS Abraham Lincoln was originally deployed last summer to the Indo-Pacific region but was ordered to the Red Sea in August to relieve USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71), as part of the service's ongoing carrier rotation in the Middle East.
There has been a continuous U.S. Navy CSG presence in the Middle East since October 2023 following the Hamas terrorist attack on southern Israel as well as missile attacks from the Houthis. USS Abraham Lincoln remained in the region until last month when she was ordered back to the Indo-Pacific.
USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-76) transited the Suez Canal earlier this month and is now operating in the region.
First Combat For the F-35C During the Deployment
While operating as part of CENTCOM's 5th Fleet, USS Abraham Lincoln conducted air strikes on the Iran-back Houthi militants in Yemen. That included the first-ever combat sortie of a Lockheed Martin F-35C Lightning II, the carrier-based variant of the Joint Strike Fighter. In November, F-35C aircraft, assigned to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron 314 (VMFA-314) "conducted multiple strikes on Houthi weapons storage facilities within Houthi-controlled territories in Yemen," U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. Fifth Fleet, explained.
According to CUSNC, the Miramar, California-based VMFA 314—"Black Knights"—of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing had operated the Boeing F/A Hornet until 2020, when it became the "first fleet squadron in both the Navy and Marine Corps to operate the 5th Generation fighter aircraft."
In addition, the U.S. Navy announced that E/A-18G Growlers, the electronic warfare (EW) variant of the F/A-18 Super Hornet, from Electronic Attack Squadron 133 (VAQ-133), were "deployed with the next generation jammer," marking the first use of the advanced jammer "both deployed and in combat, marking a generational leap in electronic warfare capability."
Home For the Holidays
For many U.S. sailors around the world this year, they will be home for Christmas only in their dreams. Yet, for the personnel of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group (ABECSG), their holiday dreams have come true.
And it was one the crew truly earned.
"Our incredibly successful deployment of firsts includes the first combat employment of the F-35C Lightning II platform, the first employment of the ALQ-249 Next Generation Jammer, the first Nimitz-class aircraft carrier to re-fuel at sea with a commercial oiler, the first Multi-Large Deck Event with the Italian Navy's Cavour CSG in the Indo-Pacific, the first west coast CSG to conduct combat strikes to degrade Iranian-backed Houthi rebel combat capabilities, and the first carrier to pull into Malaysia in over 12 years to strengthen critical regional partnerships," said commander, Carrier Strike Group 3, Rear Adm. Adan Cruz. "All of this was made possible through the incredible hard work and dedication of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group Sailors and Marines, who are reuniting with their loved ones in time for the holidays."
CVN-72 is the second U.S. Navy vessel named after the 16th president—after the Cold War-era George Washington-class ballistic missile submarine. She was commissioned in November 1989, and over the past three decades and a half decades in service, USS Abraham Lincoln has carried out multiple humanitarian missions in the Persian Gulf and Pacific region and has taken part in multiple combat operations.
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Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: Editor@nationalinterest.org.
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