The USS Abraham Lincoln has started its journey back to San Diego after nearly 275 days at sea. The aircraft carrier departed San Diego on November 21, 2025, for a deployment initially planned to last seven months.
NBC News reported on August 20 that the Lincoln was returning to NAS North Island. The USS George Washington has replaced the carrier in the Middle East and joined the USS George H. W. Bush in the region.
USS Abraham Lincoln sailors are returning to San Diego
Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao had already confirmed plans for the carrier to return home on August 14. He described the change as part of a scheduled rotation.
“The USS Abraham Lincoln crushed their deployment and will return home soon as part of a planned rotation. Details will come but let me be clear: the safety and security of our Sailors and Marines always comes first,” Cao said.
His announcement came the same day Donald Trump discussed the ship’s time at sea while speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland. Trump said the carrier had not been deployed “nearly long enough.”
Trump later described the sailors’ deployment as a “good period of time” and said U.S. personnel had previously remained at sea for longer periods.
Reports about conditions aboard the Lincoln had surfaced before its return was announced. The allegations included food shortages, contaminated water and broken toilets. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth disputed the reporting and called accounts of conditions “completely misrepresented.” He also said he had spoken with the crew.
CNN reported another incident involving a sailor on August 3. The sailor went overboard while wearing a life vest during what the outlet described as a “mental health episode.” The crew rescued the sailor unharmed.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a member of the Armed Services Committee, also raised “serious concern” about the deployment in an August 12 letter to Hegseth.
Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Central Command, visited the carrier over the weekend. He later addressed the crew in a Wall Street Journal editorial.
Cooper wrote that they had “delivered a performance for the ages, and now you are going home.”
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