Thousands turn out to welcome weary USS Lincoln sailors after record-breaking deployment
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Sailors onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln wave their hats as the carrier returns home to San Diego. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters View image in fullscreen Sailors onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln wave their hats as the carrier returns home to San Diego. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters US military Thousands turn out to welcome weary USS Lincoln sailors after record-breaking deployment Military families admit ‘mixed emotions’ as aircraft carrier finally returns to San Diego after grueling stretch at sea that took severe toll
Prefer the Guardian on Google By 4am on Thursday, the sky still pitch black, 19-year-old Pvt Grayden Monroe and his mom had already arrived to the naval base in San Diego, California , the very first military family members huddled on a set of metal bleachers overlooking the dark water. They were waiting for Monroe’s 21-year-old sister to step off the USS Abraham Lincoln, the embattled aircraft carrier that has been at sea for the better part of a year.
Monroe, a soldier stationed at Fort Campbell, was wearing his army uniform for the occasion. “I hope she’s proud of me,” he said of his sister, “and I hope she knows damn well that I’m just as proud of her.”
As the sun rose over Naval Air Station North Island, thousands of people flooded on to the base for the USS Lincoln’s long-awaited return. The atmosphere was like a de facto festival, with a live band, performers on stilts, therapy dogs, handmade signs, giant cutouts of sailors’ smiling faces. People cried, laughed, screamed with joy.
When the Lincoln appeared in the middle distance around noon, rounding the corner past downtown, cheers erupted from around the bay. Sailors flanked the edges of the ship in uniform, waving to the crowd and making phone calls to loved ones. Below American-flag bunting, rust stains were visible on the sides of the carrier. The massive, city-like ship had finally reached land.
View image in fullscreen An onlooker cheers as the Lincoln approaches the port of San Diego. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Military families and friends had longed for this moment for months.
The Lincoln first left San Diego last November, with an expected return date sometime in the spring. But as the US and Israel launched a war with Iran, the aircraft carrier was diverted to the Middle East , extending the deployment for the roughly 5,000 sailors and marines onboard for a then-unknown amount of time. The Lincoln’s deployment ended up spanning 321 days, including 264 consecutive days at sea without a port call, a record in modern naval history, the Department of Defense said .
For months, sailors have reported hazardous living conditions onboard the Lincoln: shortages of food and basic supplies, a spate of suicide attempts and a general sense of deteriorating mental health and declining morale. The reports immediately set off a political firestorm, with Democratic lawmakers calling for an investigation , even as Donald Trump and the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth , sought to downplay the situation. The US navy confirmed last month that eight service members from the Lincoln and its accompanying strike group had attempted suicide since the start of the deployment.
After the Lincoln’s return home was officially announced in August, it took the carrier almost two long months to get back to San Diego, making a brief port call in Thailand and then tracing a route east across the Pacific Ocean.
But on the naval base on Thursday, the scene wasn’t completely euphoric.
An infant in a stroller was positioned with a sign that read “I have waited 234 days to hug my daddy!” The baby’s mom, Brenda Rivas, said she was five months pregnant when her husband deployed. He missed the birth, and the first time he was able to see his daughter over a video call was six months later.
View image in fullscreen Brenda Rivas with her seven-month-old daughter. Photograph: Amanda Ulrich “It’s mixed emotions,” Rivas said. “I’m more sad than excited because he did miss so much.”
And an emotional reunion on the pier wasn’t in the cards for everyone, especially for the many military families that are spread across the country.
Dawn, a mother who requested that only her first name be used because she feared retaliation from military officials, anxiously watched a live feed of the ship’s arrival from a small town in Texas, her eyes “glued to the TV” for hours. Her son is a service member on the Lincoln.
“I couldn’t sleep. Tossed and turned,” she texted early on Thursday morning. “I’m feeling so happy for my granddaughter to see her daddy!”
Imagining that the scene in San Diego would be too chaotic, Dawn is instead flying to California next week to reunite with her son and his five-year-old daughter. She’s planning to help him “get everything back in order”: make sure his house is clean, whip up some home-cooked meals.
Over the past 11 months, one thing has been keeping her son sane and tethered to a reality off the ship, she said.
“He said that all he could think about was his daughter,” she said. “That’s what got him through all this.”
As the sailors floated around the globe for the past year, their relatives sat at home and waited, wondering what could be happening thousands of miles away on the ship.
Dawn’s son sent her updates via WhatsApp whenever he got service. This past spring, he told her, the conditions were dire.
“Like 3rd world …” he wrote in a message. “We couldn’t get soap or toothpaste.”
He sent her pictures of mold dripping down the walls, of dwindling daily rations: sectioned cafeteria trays with only a few of the compartments full. Two hard-boiled eggs and watery soap. A scoop of grits and a few limp noodles.
View image in fullscreen Crew members on the deck of the Lincoln on Thursday. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images The extended deployment, long working hours and supply shortages seemed to be taking their toll across the ship, especially on the younger sailors, Dawn said. Nearly half of…
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