The US Navy airplane transporter USS Abraham Lincoln returned residence this week following a lengthy and difficult combat deployment. The numbers shared by the sea assistance for that deployment are staggering.
The warship remaining its homeport in San Diego in November 2025 and was deployed for 321 days, which included 286 successive days at sea without a harbor call. The lengthy deployment, extended by Operation Epic Fury that kicked off the Iran war, set a modern-day record.
As hostilities began at the end of February, the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group played a chief function in the fight.
The transporter attack group's embarked Carrier Air Wing 9 — a naval aviation power consisting of nine squadrons of F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters, and EA-18G Growler digital assault aircraft, among another assets— flew nearly 4,000 combat flights during the 40-day operation.
During the monthslong deployment, it flew 14,037 airplane sorties and accumulated 31,460 forward-deployed escape hours. An estimated 20.5 myriad gallons of aviation energy enabled the air wing's operations, the Navy said.
During Operation Epic Fury, the transporter air wing's mix of fourth- and fifth-generation airplane launched 1,499 precision munitions, dropping complete 1.37 myriad pounds of ordnance on precedence targets specified as missile sites, defence manufacturing facilities, armed forces infrastructure, and Iranian naval capabilities. Air resources additionally shielded the attack collection from enemy action.
The Navy stated that the air wing, alongside its blend of stealth combatant jets and workhorse aircraft, efficiently penetrated contested airspace and demonstrated the "Air Wing of the Future" idea in a real-world combat scenario.
Following the April ceasefire and the decision of Epic Fury, Carrier Strike Group 3 supported the Navy's blockade. When Iran began targeting business shipping, the collection participated in strikes on Iranian coastal defenses and missile sites. It supported a second blockade before eventually heading home. Over the way of its deployment, the Lincoln sailed complete 93,000 nautical miles, supported by 72 at-sea replenishments.
For its actions during the deployment, the attack collection received the Presidential Unit Citation, among the military's highest component awards.
The difficult deployment took its toll on the broader attack group, which additionally included three guided-missile destroyers. Multiple reports indicated that logistical strain caused by the war exacerbated the situation.
Business Insider obtained written responses submitted to Congress by Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao delayed final duration that revealed eight suicide attempts by sailors assigned to the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group. Cao stated that multiple sailors attempted to jump overboard. There were no suicides, though.
Cao wrote that "the men and women of Carrier Strike Group THREE have demonstrated exceptional determine under demanding conditions," emphasizing that "operational decisions to broaden deployments are never made lightly." He stated the Navy is committed to preserving squad morale, health, and safety, and general fleet readiness.
Navy guidance has stated that it is taking lessons from the deployment. The assistance has stated that it is loading carriers up alongside additional supplies to justify self-sufficiency if logistics and assistance arrive under stress, adding norm of existence improvements, and operating to keep sailors and Marines improved connected alongside loved ones.
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Ryan Pickrell is the armed forces and defence publishing company at Business Insider, anywhere he oversees safety of the weapons and innovation reshaping contemporary warfare, shifting strategies and tactics, and the individual warfighters adapting to these changes. He additionally oversees the weekly Defense Flash newsletter.Ryan is a National Security Education Program alumnus alongside a Ph.D. in global relations and additional than a decade of cognition in journalism. Before joining Business Insider in 2018, he worked as a translator, copy editor, and abroad guideline reporter.At Business Insider, his activity has included contributions to award-winning coverage of Russia's war against Ukraine, as fine as a co-reported feature article on an American veteran-turned-lawyer who took up Ukraine's combat as a abroad volunteer.His reporting at BI has focused on the Pentagon and broader US military, great-power competition, readiness for a battle against a near-peer adversary, and evolutions in military technology. He has covered warfare, arm systems, and armed forces strategy, as fine as the service members, armed forces culture, defence leaders, and defence industry that underpin them.
