Abraham Lincoln is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations to support maritime security and stability in the Middle East.
(U.S. Navy photo)
The United States Navy’s Nimitz-class nuclear-powered supercarrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) isn’t close to matching the record deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78), the service’s newest and largest aircraft carrier. The lead vessel of the next-generation class of supercarrier spent 326 days at sea, the longest deployment for any flattop since the Vietnam War and the longest-ever for a nuclear-powered carrier.
CVN-72 began its deployment from Naval Base San Diego on November 21, 2025, which, as of Friday, meant the carrier has been away from its homeport for 231 days.
What makes this different is that the USS Abraham Lincoln has also been underway for more than 200 straight days, another record-setting milestone – and perhaps one that the crew would have liked not to set. The flagship of Carrier Strike Group 3 hasn’t been in a port since December 12, 2025, when it made a one-day visit to Naval Base Guam.
As The War Zone reported, such port calls usually allow the crew to disembark and enjoy some “liberty;” however, the stop in Guam was so brief that it is unlikely much of the crew was granted an opportunity to step on solid ground.
Much of the past 200 days has been spent in the waters of the Middle East, notably the Arabian Sea.
A Most Unexpected Deployment
USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in the Eastern Pacific in December, a move that wasn’t seen as a surprise, even if no advance notice was given when the carrier departed from San Diego in November.
Until mid-January, it was an uneventful deployment for CVN-72, during which it operated in the South China Sea. It carried out a live-fire exercise and a replenishment-at-sea, where an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter, attached to Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 14, transported cargo to the supercarrier during a replenishment-at-sea from the Henry J. Kaiser-class supply ship USNS Cesar Chavez (T-AKE 14).
The next day, live fire weapons exercises included testing of the aircraft carrier’s Phalanx Close-In Weapons System.
The operations were only noteworthy at the time as Beijing maintains the South China Sea as its sovereign waters, with the United States Navy maintaining its ongoing commitment to support freedom of navigation consistent with international law.
Quite unexpectedly, the USS Abraham Lincoln was ordered to the Middle East as part of the U.S. military’s buildup of forces in the region. When Operation Epic Fury began on February 28, 2026, aircraft from Carrier Air Wing 9 (CVW-9) were among the aircraft to take part in the opening strikes on Iran. As The War Zone added, CSG-3 was also “instrumental in enforcing the naval blockade that followed.”
Record-Setting Time At Sea
Even if the USS Abraham Lincoln doesn’t see its deployment extended to the length of CVN-78, it may have already set a record for the most consecutive days at sea for a modern aircraft carrier.
Being nuclear-powered, CVN-72 has unlimited range and endurance, and underway replenishments and carrier onboard deliveries can transfer fuel and cargo. Helicopters and carrier-capable cargo planes are able to deliver urgent parts, mail and personnel directly to the flight deck.
Such lengthy underways aren’t common, but they are unprecedented either. During the global COVID-19 pandemic, the second-oldest Nimitz-class carrier, the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69), spent 206 days at sea, as port access was restricted.
Still, the fact that the USS Abraham Lincoln has been forced to remain at sea for so long serves as a reminder that the U.S. Navy doesn’t have enough carriers for continued operations while trying to maintain a presence in other regions.
The USS George Washington (CVN-73), the U.S. Navy’s only forward-deployed supercarrier, is now operating in the Western Pacific after beginning its annual patrol just weeks ago, and USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) will spend much of July leading the Rim of the Pacific 2026 naval exercises around Hawaii.
A second Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, the USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77), is also operating in the Arabian Sea, having arrived in the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility in the Middle East on April 23, 2026.
Back in Familiar Waters
U.S. Marines conduct maintenance on an F-35C Lightning II, attached to Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314, in the hangar bay of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72)
(U.S. Navy photo)
This isn’t the first time that the USS Abraham Lincoln has operated in the waters of the Middle East. Just two years after entering service in 1989, USS Abraham Lincoln was ordered on her first Western Pacific deployment in response to Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in 1991.
However, while en-route to the Indian Ocean, the warship was diverted to support evacuation operations following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo on Luzon Island, Republic of the Philippines, and led Operation Fiery Vigil, the largest peacetime evacuation of active-duty military personnel and family members in history. The carrier subsequently led a 23-ship flotilla that successfully sea-lifted 20,000 evacuees to safety.
Afterward, the carrier took station in the Arabian Gulf for three months to support allied troops, conducting combat air patrols and reconnaissance in the post-war phase.
CVN-72 continued regular deployments throughout the 1990s and took part in Operations Southern Watch and Vigilant Sentinel. The carrier was ordered back to the Persian Gulf in 2003 to participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Four Decades of Service
The keel of CVN-72 was laid on November 3, 1984, at Newport News, Virginia, and the nuclear-powered carrier was launched four years later. USS Abraham Lincoln was delivered to the U.S. Navy in 1989.
It is similar in design to other Nimitz-class carriers, measuring approximately 1,092 feet in length, 252 feet in beam, and 41 feet in draft.
The supercarrier displaces 97,000 tons, and her flight deck, which is approximately 4.5 acres, is served by four hangar elevators. The flattop is also equipped with four steam catapults and can carry up to ninety fixed-wing and rotary aircraft. As a floating airbase, the carrier is home to 5,680 sailors and Marines, including the crew of 3,200, as well as 2,480 serving in the airwing. As one of the largest warships in the world today, CVN-72 boasts many amenities found in an American city, including a post office with its own ZIP code, TV and radio stations, a newspaper, a fire department, a library, a hospital, a general store, and, of course, barbershops.
Over the past decades, the carrier has conducted multiple humanitarian missions in the Persian Gulf and Pacific regions and has participated in multiple combat operations.
The USS Abraham Lincoln also became the first Pacific Fleet carrier to integrate female aviators into the crew after the Combat Exclusion Laws were lifted in April 1993. In August 2021, Captain Amy Bauernschmidt took command of CVN-72, becoming one of 11 commanders of aircraft carriers in the U.S. Navy and the first woman to hold the role.
Captain Daniel J. Keeler assumed command of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier on June 18, 2025.