Home after 321 days: the Lincoln is back in San Diego
The USS Abraham Lincoln pulled into Naval Air Station North Island on Thursday, ending a record 265 days at sea without a port call and a deployment defined by a war in the Middle East and the toll it took on the crew.
CORONADO: The USS Abraham Lincoln came home Thursday, steaming into Naval Air Station North Island on San Diego Bay shortly before 1 p.m. local time after 321 days away. Thousands of family members and friends lined the pier as roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines disembarked, ending one of the longest deployments in carrier history.
The ship left San Diego on Nov. 21, 2025, and spent the bulk of its deployment supporting U.S. military operations during the war against Iran, including airstrikes against Iranian targets and enforcement of the U.S. blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. By the Navy's count it spent a record 265 days at sea without a port call, the stretch that defined the deployment for the crew.
Capt. Dan Keeler, the ship's commanding officer, said every sailor and Marine who left on the deployment came home. "Every single sailor and marine that left on this deployment is going home. That's legendary," he said after disembarking.
The return closes a chapter that drew national scrutiny. Over the summer, reporting described mental health strain, deteriorating living conditions, and reduced meal options aboard the carrier. Eight sailors attempted suicide during the deployment, according to the Navy; no sailor died by suicide. The Navy has acknowledged that the ship suffered resupply disruptions. The Trump administration initially downplayed the reports of poor conditions.
The commander's accounting
Keeler told reporters Thursday that the crew was always provided four meals a day and that the issues they faced were normal for such a long deployment. "We never missed a mission. I also never missed a meal," he said. He noted that most of the reporting about conditions over the summer concerned events in March and April, and that the ship had a mental health team that immediately evaluated acute cases.
He said most of the crew was on its first deployment and that the hardship was part of the mission. "It's a floating city as you can see and at any moment there might be a clogged toilet," he said.
Abel Ramirez, 20, walked off the carrier with a grin, overjoyed that his first deployment was over. "It feels amazing," he said. "There was a certain point when I never thought I would come off."
A citation before the welcome
A day before the return, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the ship and awarded the crew the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest unit-level decoration awarded by the U.S. military. "You have changed the arc of history," he told the crew, praising their endurance through the historically lengthy deployment.
For San Diego, a Navy town, the homecoming is also an economic and civic event: the families who waited out 321 days of extended and uncertain schedules are the city's neighbors, and the ship's return means 5,000 people coming home to a port that had spent nearly a year without them.
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