The long-deployed USS Lincoln returns home to San Diego Bay

Key Points:

• After a record 322-day deployment supporting the Iran war, thousands of sailors aboard the USS Lincoln returned to San Diego Bay to emotional reunions with family, including 122 new fathers meeting babies born during their absence.
• The deployment was marked by supply shortages, mental health challenges, and limited communication, with families describing sleepless nights and stress over the crew's wellbeing, though the Navy maintained that issues were normal for such an extended mission.
• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth awarded the crew the Presidential Unit Citation, praising their resilience and pushing back against narratives portraying the Lincoln as a symbol of dysfunction or low morale.
• The USS Lincoln, following the USS Gerald R. Ford’s even longer 326-day deployment, set a record for uninterrupted time at sea while executing thousands of combat missions, including launching cruise missiles and sinking Iranian vessels.
• Extended deployments like this can strain service members and equipment, with eight reported suicide attempts during the mission, highlighting the human cost of prolonged naval operations.