CORONADO, Calif. (AP) — After more than 10 months at sea, thousands of sailors left the the USS Lincoln on San Diego Bay to thunderous cheers, flowing tears and emotional hugs, marking a homecoming that included new dads who met babies born while they were away on a historic deployment to support the Iranian War.
The reunion followed an emotional roller coaster for families who described crying and losing sleep after hearing reports. supply shortages and the crew’s deteriorating mental health during the deployment which spent a record 265 days of uninterrupted time at sea. Many said they could only communicate with family through occasional emails or rare WhatsApp calls.
Abel Ramirez, 20, was happy to have it all behind him. He left the carrier with a big smile, delighted that his first deployment was over.
“It’s amazing,” he said as he set out to find his parents who had come from Texas. “There was a point where I never thought I would make it.”
Cassity Garduque, 14, waved as her mother, in her sailor’s uniform, waved frantically from the upper deck after the ship docked at the dock.
“It’s really overwhelming,” she said of seeing her mother again. “She missed most of my seventh grade and my birthday.”
She added that she was happy that her mother doesn’t eat ramen almost every day and can celebrate with her now.
Capt. Daniel Keeler, the ship’s commanding officer, said most of the crew was on their first deployment and the problems they faced were normal for such a long deployment, adding that everyone had access to four meals a day.
“It’s a floating city as you can see and at any time there could be a clogged toilet,” he said.
Navy downplayed aircraft carrier problems
The Navy initially downplayed problems during the deployment, and President Donald Trump said in August that the Lincoln’s long deployment was “not long enough.”
Navy leaders eventually acknowledged there were problems on board.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth flew to the Lincoln on Wednesday to give the crew the Presidential Unit Citationthe highest distinction a unit can receive.
Hegseth told the crew that “what makes the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, and all of these sailors different is that you adapt, you are resilient, and you overcome – you nevertheless complete the mission.” »
Hegseth opposed what he called efforts to turn “Lincoln into some kind of symbol, a symbol of dysfunction or a symbol of low morale or a symbol of a failed mission.”
The crew of the USS Lincoln looks forward to their family’s meals and favorite foods
Lincoln, which set a record for uninterrupted sea time, was the second aircraft carrier to undergo an unusually long deployment during the Iran War and subsequently receive the Presidential Unit Citation, usually reserved for significant achievement in combat.
The crew of the USS Gerald R. Ford returned in May from a 326-day deployment – the longest for an aircraft carrier in the last 50 years and a record since the Vietnam War. The Lincoln deployment of 322 days was just short of that.
Among the first to leave the aircraft carrier at Naval Station Coronado were 64 fathers who met their babies for the first time, the Navy said. With the Airwing included, there were 122 new dads, Keeler said.
While waiting for the Lincoln to bring her husband home, navigator Kathy Monterrosa held her 6-month-old daughter, Sarahi, dressed in a little blue and white sailor dress.
“This is our deployment baby,” said Monterrosa, of Virginia Beach, Virginia.
It was difficult to hear about the conditions the ship was in while she was pregnant, she said. “I was crying a lot and I was worried. I didn’t know if he was okay or not,” she said.
When she finally heard from her husband, he told her it was “pretty bad”, but now she says she feels lucky to have the family home.
Sailor Steven Rivas beamed as he held his 7-month-old daughter.
“I couldn’t wrap my head around reality,” he said of returning home. He was overwhelmed as they entered the bay, “seeing everyone and knowing my family was waiting for me,” Rivas said, his voice shaking as his eyes filled with tears.
Alma Solano Velez said her husband gave his family a long list of foods he craved over the past 10 months: oxtail, barbecue chicken, broccoli and shrimp empanadas, to name a few.
He had spoken to his wife about the “lack of food and showers” on board and was looking forward to seeing their daughter, who turned 4 while he was away, she said.
The carrier departed San Diego in November and arrived in the Middle East in January. US and Israeli forces launched airstrikes against Iran on February 28.
In August, acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said The Lincoln maintained adequate food supplies, but as combat operations limited resupply opportunities, meal options were reduced for a short time.
After more than 10 months at sea, the Lincoln crew obtained a stopover in Thailand early last month, when I was returning from the Middle East.
Long deployments can tax service members
Prolonged naval deployments can exhaust service members who are away from home for extended periods and increase strain on the ship and its equipment.
The Navy told lawmakers that eight sailors attempted suicide during this record deployment, although experts say that number is low in a strike group of 6,000 Sailors over 10 months.
According to the citation Hegseth read to the crew, the Lincoln and its strike group executed nearly 3,700 combat missions, launched 450 Tomahawk cruise missiles, shot down 77 one-way attack drones, sank 64 Iranian warships and destroyed 21 anti-ship cruise missiles.
Another carrier, usually based in Asia USS George Washingtonrelieved the Lincoln in the Middle East in August.
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Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio.
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