US Navy Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln sails in support of the Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran from an undisclosed location March 3, 2026
The USS Abraham Lincoln will return home soon as part of a planned rotation after 266 days deployed, including 200 days in a combat zone, Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said on Friday, pushing back against reports portraying the carrier’s crew as victims of its extended mission.
Cao said the carrier completed more than 10,000 sorties and dropped 1.5 million pounds of ordnance during the deployment, while a small number of mental health cases had been treated with no loss of life.
“The Lincoln was extended because the mission demanded it,” Cao said in a statement posted on X, adding that the crew had been pushed to its limits but had “never broken.”
US Navy has said it has not observed an increase in suicidal ideation among the crew, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth described reports about conditions aboard the ship as “completely misrepresented.”