Homecoming in San Diego

The USS Abraham Lincoln returned to San Diego on Thursday, 8 October, ending a deployment that AP described as record-long and that included operations supporting the Iran war. Sailors stood on the deck as the carrier approached San Diego Bay, where cheering families gathered at the dock to greet them. Reports on the length of the deployment vary, with BFMTV citing 322 days at sea and Nasz Dziennik citing 321 days away from port. Le Monde reported that about 6,000 crew members disembarked, while iefimerida put the number at about 5,000. The carrier had stayed at sea for 265 consecutive days without a port call before stopping at Pattaya, Thailand, in early September, according to France 24.

Hegseth's visit and the combat record

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew to the flight deck on Wednesday, 7 October, and praised the resilience of sailors who endured an extended wartime deployment. He presented a citation from President Donald Trump for the crew's achievements during the Iran war, and he accused reporters of trying to turn the crew into symbols of dysfunction or a failed mission instead of heroes. According to Hegseth, the strike group sank 64 Iranian warships, destroyed 21 anti-ship cruise missiles, executed 3,693 combat sorties, launched 450 Tomahawk land attack cruise missiles and fired 1.37 million pounds of ordnance against Iran. He also said the ship suffered no casualties and had no aircraft mishaps despite the pace of combat operations.

Hegseth told the crew:

What makes the US military and the US Navy and all these sailors different is that you adapt and that you're resilient and you overcome - you finish the mission nonetheless.

Conditions on board

The deployment drew scrutiny over conditions on board. In August, amid reports of low morale and supply shortages, Trump was asked whether he thought the Lincoln had been deployed too long, and he responded "No, no, no. Not nearly long enough." Hegseth acknowledged some challenges, saying "there wasn't an easy resupply", and joked that he was the one who signed the orders repeatedly extending the deployment. France 24 reported that Hegseth had earlier described the reports about the situation on board as caricatured. A letter from acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, responding to questions from Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, acknowledged eight suicide attempts among crew members, none of them fatal, according to France 24.

Families on the pier

Families had gathered on the quays in San Diego after nearly a year without seeing their sailors. Alba Solano came to meet her partner with their daughter, and she told AFP that she was impatient and nervous. Communication during the mission was limited, and Solano said messages arrived only occasionally, with the phone calls failing for her side.

The phone calls were horrible. They never worked. He could hear us, but we could not hear him.

More than 100 new fathers saw their babies for the first time, according to BFMTV and France 24, while Nasz Dziennik reported that 64 sailors would meet their children for the first time.

Timeline of the deployment

The carrier left San Diego in November 2025 for a mission in the South China Sea, then was redirected to the Middle East before the United States and Israel launched the war against Iran on 28 February 2026, according to BFMTV.

Reports of low morale and supply shortages surfaced in August, and the Lincoln was later replaced in the CENTCOM area of responsibility by USS George Washington, according to iefimerida.