After a record 265 days at sea supporting operations during the Iran War, sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln finally returned to shore Thursday in San Diego.
Family members embraced the returning crew, marking the end of a deployment that drew public scrutiny following reports of food shortages, declining mental health and suicide attempts among sailors.
Relatives gathered along San Diego Bay said they had cried and lost sleep after learning about the carrier’s difficult conditions and limited supplies. Some sailors even sent their families wish lists of foods they hoped to eat once back home.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth traveled to the Lincoln on Wednesday to present its crew with the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest award available to a military unit.
Hegseth rejected what he described as attempts to portray the Lincoln as “some sort of a symbol, a symbol of dysfunction or a symbol of low morale or a symbol of a failed mission.”
Speaking to the sailors, the secretary said the distinction of the U.S. military and Navy was their ability to adapt, remain resilient and complete the mission despite hardship.
Dozens of sailors lined the carrier’s upper deck as it moved past downtown San Diego. Onshore, cheering relatives waved flowers and balloons while ringing cowbells to welcome them home.
Abel Ramirez, 20, stepped off the carrier smiling broadly, relieved that his first deployment had finally come to an end.
Sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln finally disembarked in San Diego Thursday after a record 265 days at sea supporting efforts during the Iran War.
Families embraced returning crew members after a deployment that entered the public spotlight amid reports of supply shortages, worsening mental health and suicide attempts.
“It feels amazing,” Ramirez said as he searched for his parents, who had driven from Texas. “There was a certain point when I never thought I would come off.”
Fourteen-year-old Cassity Garduque waved from shore while her mother, still in uniform, waved back excitedly from the carrier’s top deck.
“It feels really overwhelming,” she said of the reunion. She added that she was relieved her mother would no longer have to eat ramen nearly every day.
Captain Daniel Keeler, the Lincoln’s commander, said most of the sailors were on their first deployment. He characterized the challenges as typical of an unusually long mission and said the crew had access to four meals each day.
The Navy said 64 fathers were among the first sailors to leave the carrier at the naval base in Coronado, where they met their babies for the first time.
Kathy Monterrosa waited for her husband while holding their 6-month-old daughter, Sarahi, who wore a tiny blue-and-white sailor dress.
“She’s our deployment baby,” said Monterrosa, who lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
Monterrosa said it was difficult hearing about the carrier’s conditions while she was pregnant.
“I was crying a lot and worried. I wasn’t sure if he was OK or not,” she said.
Relatives awaiting the aircraft carrier’s arrival in San Diego Bay said reports of food shortages and harsh conditions had left them crying and unable to sleep. Many sailors had sent lists of foods they were craving.
Family and friends await the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier’s return to Naval Air Station North Island after deployment
The US Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln returns home
When she finally heard from her husband, he told her it was ‘pretty bad.’
Sailor Steven Rivas beamed as he held his seven-month-old daughter.
‘I couldn´t grasp the reality of it,’ he said about coming home. He said he became overwhelmed as they pulled into the bay, ‘seeing everyone and knowing my family was waiting for me.’
Alma Solano Velez said her husband gave his family an extensive list of the foods he has been craving over the past 10 months: oxtail, barbecue chicken, broccoli and shrimp empanadas to name a few.
He had told his wife about ‘the lack of food and showers’ on board and was looking forward to seeing their daughter, who turned four years old while he was away, she said.
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The Navy initially downplayed any problems during the deployment, and President Donald Trump commented in August that the Lincoln´s lengthy deployment was ‘not nearly long enough.’
The carrier left San Diego in November and arrived in the Middle East in January. U.S. and Israeli forces launched airstrikes against Iran on Feb. 28.
Navy leaders eventually acknowledged there were some issues aboard.
Sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln Nimitz-class aircraft carrier wave to friends and family members
Zoe Bonter and her children, Luka, 18-months old, and Mila, five years old, wait for the ship’s arrival
Kathy Monterroso, center, holding her daughter Sarahi Monterroso, waits to greet her husband, sailor Chris Monterroso
Spectators gather to view the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier as it returns to the San Diego Bay
In August, acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said the Lincoln maintained adequate food supplies, but because combat operations limited resupply opportunities, meal options were reduced for a short time.
After more than 10 months at sea, the Lincoln´s crew got a stop in Thailand early last month on the way back from the Middle East.
Extended naval deployments can wear on service members who are away from home for long periods and increase strain on the ship and its equipment.
The Navy told lawmakers that eight sailors attempted suicide during the record-setting deployment, though experts say that number is low in a strike group of 6,000 sailors over ten months.
According to the citation that 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.
The Lincoln, which set a record for days between ports of call, is the second carrier to endure an unusually long deployment during the Iran war and to receive the Presidential Unit Citation afterward, typically 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 past 50 years and a record in the post-Vietnam War era. The deployment didn´t include as many uninterrupted days at sea as the Lincoln.
Another carrier, the usually Asia-based USS George Washington, relieved the Lincoln in the Middle East in August.
Captain Dan Keeler, USS Abraham Lincoln’s commanding officer greets his family members
Sailor Ryan Resurreccion hugs his son Ari
Keeler, the ship´s commander, said most of the crew was on their first deployment and that the issues they faced were normal for such a long deployment, adding everyone had access to four meals a day
The Lincoln strike group carried roughly 6,000 personnel and spent months supporting combat operations connected to the Iran war.
Cao confirmed last month that eight suicide attempts had been recorded across the carrier, its air wing and accompanying ships during the deployment.
Another sailor attempted to go overboard in March but was stopped by shipmates and later medically evacuated, Cao said.
Families had raised concerns about food and supply shortages, fatigue and deteriorating morale as the deployment stretched on.
The carrier also went for a record-setting stretch without a port call.
Sailors and their relatives described 12-hour shifts, broken plumbing, moldy showers and periods when food portions were reduced as resupply became more difficult.
Despite those concerns, experts cautioned that the eight attempts alone cannot establish that the strike group’s suicide-attempt rate was unusually high.
The Navy recorded 356 attempts across approximately 337,000 active-duty sailors in 2024, and a former VA mental-health official said more information would be needed to judge what the Lincoln figures signify.
