The USS Abraham Lincoln pulled into Naval Air Station North Island on Thursday, Oct. 8, carrying more than 4,500 sailors and Marines home for the first time in 321 days.
The carrier, flagship of San Diego-based Carrier Strike Group 3, departed in November 2025 and spent the bulk of its deployment supporting the U.S. war against Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew aboard the ship Wednesday, Oct. 7, to announce the strike group would receive the Presidential Unit Citation, one of the military's highest honors.
"I realize I'm the only thing standing between you and home," Hegseth told the crew, according to CBS 8.
The citation, which Hegseth read to sailors, detailed the strike group's combat record: 3,693 combat missions, 1.37 million pounds of ordnance delivered, 450 Tomahawk cruise missiles launched, 77 one-way attack drones shot down, 64 Iranian warships sunk, 21 anti-ship cruise missiles destroyed and defenses against four fast-attack craft and explosive-carrying ships, NBC San Diego reported.
Hegseth noted the crew completed 265 continuous days without a port call. NBC San Diego put the figure at 286 days, calling it the second-longest deployment since the Vietnam War. The USS Gerald R. Ford holds the record at 326 days.
The Coronado Police Department warned residents to expect traffic delays around noon Thursday as the carrier pulled in. The City of Coronado invited community members to line the streets near the base to welcome the ship home.
Hundreds of family members waited for hours in the sun at the pier. McKenzie Adkins held her 10-week-old son Declan and waved to her husband, Alexander, on the ship's deck. The new father met his son for the first time when he stepped off the ship, CBS News reported.
The reunion hit hard. Cassity Garduque, 14, watched her mother in a sailor uniform wave back from the top deck. She told NBC San Diego the moment felt "really overwhelming."
The deployment drew scrutiny over conditions aboard the ship, including reports of supply shortages, faulty plumbing and deteriorating mental health among crew members. The Navy told lawmakers that eight sailors attempted suicide during the deployment, according to NBC San Diego.
Hegseth acknowledged in his speech that he had signed the orders extending the ship's deployment twice. He pushed back against what he called efforts to turn the Lincoln "into some sort of a symbol, a symbol of dysfunction or a symbol of low morale or a symbol of a failed mission."
The Lincoln left the Middle East in late August and stopped in Thailand and Guam before reaching San Diego. About 40 members of Helicopter Squadron HSM-71 returned early to North Island on Saturday, Oct. 3, ahead of the carrier.
