The USS Abraham Lincoln docked in San Diego on Thursday, bringing dances of joy from the homebound sailors, praise for the crew’s extended service and questions about the poor conditions they endured during the record length of time the ship was away from port supporting the Iran war.
Scores of new fathers kissed their babies for the first time, couples cried and embraced and hundreds of parents let out a collective sigh of relief as the crew disembarked on the north end of the Coronado peninsula.
The ship departed from Southern California last November and was rerouted to the Middle East after the U.S. led attacks on Iran in February. Crew members have been away from their families for 321 days and set a modern record for 265 consecutive days at sea without a port visit.
The exceptionally long deployment has drawn concern over reports of deteriorating conditions on board as crew members became emblems of the sacrifices made by Americans to sustain President Trump’s conflict with Iran.
This summer, news reports revealed that multiple sailors had attempted to jump overboard amid shortages of fresh food, disruptions to hot water and laundry services and exhaustion. Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao then told Congress that at least eight strike team members had attempted suicide during the deployment.
When asked Thursday about the toll on sailors, Commanding Officer Daniel J. Keeler said that everything crew members went through was “in the normal spectrum of what you might expect you see on an aircraft carrier.”
“I had all the supplies I needed to conduct combat,” he said. “We never missed a mission. I also never missed a meal.”
He said the ship deployed with five chaplains and a well-staffed mental health team. “We got our sailors any care they needed and got them back in the fight when it was appropriate,” he said.
On Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth presented the crew with the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest unit-level military decoration awarded by the United States.
The aircraft carrier traveled more than 85,000 nautical miles carrying around 5,000 sailors during its 10-month deployment, described as “one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era” by U.S. Central Command Commander Adm. Brad Cooper.
“Our epic deployment ends today and what this team achieved is amazing,” Keeler said Thursday. “Lincoln Nation conducted major combat operations, enforced naval blockade and demonstrated the presence and power of the carrier strike group and multiple numbered fleets, all while keeping up unprecedented operational tempo.”
Cooper visited the ship in August and noted it had among the lowest numbers of mental-health-related cases out of the Navy’s 11 active carriers, but “this doesn’t mean that all is perfect.”
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said in a statement Thursday that while he celebrated the ship’s return, he was acutely aware of the burden such a long deployment put upon crew members and their families.
Schiff said one of his constituents, identified only as Doug, wrote him a letter expressing concern about conditions aboard the ship after his son was medically evacuated due to a collapsed lung.
“After time in the ICU [abroad], he returned home to us as a shell of the son who had left,” Doug wrote. “He is 6’5″ and left weighing 210 pounds; and he returned closer to 180 pounds. He resembled a starved prisoner of war. What he told me as a father and veteran turns my stomach and must be brought to light.”
San Diego resident Annabelle Loma told the Military Times in August that her husband was among the sailors who attempted to jump overboard.
“He thinks he’ll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out, his 13-year-old career is ruined, just like that,” she said. “That’s not fair, that’s not right.”
Schiff said he hopes these tales of hardship resonate with the Trump administration, arguing that “with no clear objective and no measurable progress,” the war on Iran must end, not only because of high costs imposed on the American people but also because of the high price paid by service members.
More than 860 troops have been wounded and 19 have been killed since the start of the conflict, according to data published by the Defense Department.
No casualties were reported aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
“The most important statistic, the one that I am most proud of, is zero,” Keeler said. “Zero lost aircraft, zero combat damage, zero lives lost. Every single sailor and Marine that left on this deployment is going home.”
The ship’s return to San Diego comes just days after the president’s controversial remarks suggesting that if Iran were to “take out” San Diego or Los Angeles it would be a “very small price to pay” to keep the world and country safe. White House communications director Steven Cheung criticized the “media freakout” over the comments, saying that the president was pointing out how American cities would have been threatened if it were not for U.S. military intervention.
Trump appeared to backpedal his bellicosity at a rally in San Antonio on Wednesday, saying he was not going to let Iranian missiles strike U.S. cities.
Nonetheless, the damage was done, with California leaders from both sides of the aisle criticizing the implications of the president’s speech.
“We are not expendable. And we are never a ‘small price to pay,’” San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria posted on X. “Keep our city out of your reckless war talk.”
Jim Desmond, a Trump-endorsed Republican candidate running to represent San Diego in California’s hotly contested 48th Congressional District, said he vehemently disagreed with the president’s comments.
“America must stand up to Iran and defend our interests,” the Navy veteran wroteon social media, “but the first responsibility of our Commander in Chief is to protect the American people and our homeland.”
The USS Abraham Lincoln is not the only aircraft carrier to have completed an exceptionally long deployment amid the continued conflict. The USS Gerald R. Ford set a post-Vietnam War record when it returned to Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia in May from a 326-day deployment, which also earned the team a rare Presidential Unit Citation.
Last week, another crew on the USS Theodore Roosevelt and its carrier strike group left San Diego, seemingly headed to support military operations in the Middle East.
In a social media post Thursday, Trump said that his team was engaged in productive talks with Iran and he does not intend to resume military strikes on Iran before November’s midterm elections. Negotiations appeared to have stalled after Trump rejected Iran’s proposal last month to reopen the Strait of Hormuz under certain conditions.
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