Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) - Naval Cruise Book

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1 ;k 1 i - ' ' - ' •: II ' ■-■■ ' W! ft - j ; — nr ' - ■■ - ' - ij ' 1 1 1 ' «1 ™- on its third Western Pacific deployment. The ship made visits to Hong Kong and Singapore on the The ABRAHAM LINCOLN Battle Group, under the command of Rear Adm. Phillip Balisle, was comprised of the carrier, which served as the command ship for the battle group, and eight other vessels. On February 10, 2001, USS ABRAHAM LIN- aTTaiWTaI at B I AT Jl H FVVaaTATal ■ a BA 1 ment to an end as the carrier arrived in its home- transit phase, port visits to Hong Kong, Singa Iill[«lVillI«M »]|ll ]HIWiM8j Ship moved to its current homeport of Everett, Washington January 8, 1997. In June 1998, ABRAHAM LINCOLN com- to fight and maintain vigilance over the air space in the no-fly zone over Iraq. Only two port visits were made while the carrier was in the Arabian the flight deck at midday sometimes reached 150 home by way of Perth, Australia, Hobart, Tasma- nia and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, arriving in Everett before the Christmas Holiday. Following a break, the ship visited Santa Bar- bara, California, then commenced a six-month Planned Incremental Availability (PIA) in Bremer- ton, Washington in April 1999. After completion of the PIA in September 1 999, Abe participated in Fleet Week ' 99 in San Francisco, California. The crew then began a nine-month Inter-Deployment Training Cycle (IDTC) during which the ship re- visited Santa Barbara and Victoria before partici- pating in RIMPAC 2000, a multinational exercise conducted off the Hawaiian Islands. RIMPAC completed the IDTC and prepared the ship for WESTPAC 2000, a major deployment to the Western Pacific and Arabian Gulf. The USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72) left port August 17, 2000 for a scheduled six-month Western Pacific (WESTPAC) and Arabian Gulf deployment. The carrier was joined the following week off the coast of Southern California by Car- rier Air Wing 14 (CVW 14). The carrier and nine- squadron air wing spent the majority of the de- ployment in the Arabian Gulf supporting Opera- tion Southern Watch which included the enforce- ment of the no fly zone over Southern Iraq. necessary to fly nearly 1 ,, carrier began its transit across the Pacific. In April of 2001, the ship moved to Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for a scheduled six-month Planned Increment al Availability. After complet- ing PIA in October, ABRAHAM LINCOLN began workup exercises for its next deployment. Sailors and Officers headed to the Arabian Gulf in sup- port of Operation Enduring Freedom in late July 2002.

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USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN CVN 72 m the story behind the legend... USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72) is America ' s fifth Nimitz-class carrier. The ship was named in honor of our nation ' s 16th president and is the second ship in the U.S. Navy to bear his name. The ballistic missile submarine Abraham Lincoln (SSBN 602) was in service 1961-81. ABRAHAM LINCOLN ' S keel was laid Nov. 3, 1984 at Newport News, Va. Four years later the ship was christened and began a series of perfor- mance thals leading up to commissioning Nov. 11 , 1989 at Norfolk, Va. After completing shakedown and acceptance trials, ABRAHAM LINCOLN departed Norfolk in September 1990 for an interfleet transfer from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The ship completed a tran- ABRAHAM LINCOLN led a 23-ship armada that sealifted 20,000 evacuees. The armada moved nearly 45,000 people from the Subic Bay Naval Station to the Visayas Province port of Cebu. With Operation Fiery Vigil completed, the ship took up station in the Arabian Gulf in support of allied and U.S. troops remaining in the region for Operation Desert Storm. Carrier Air Wing 11 (CVW 11) the embarked Air Wing, provided combat air patrol, reconnaissance and support operations over Kuwait and Iraq. Abraham Lin- coln remained in the Gulf for more than three months. The ship spent early 1992 in a Selected Re- stricted Availability (SRA) at Naval Air Station Al- ameda. It deployed again June 15, 1993 for the Western Pacific. After a brief port visit to Hong Kong, it returned to the Arabian Gulf in support of Operation Southern Watch, the U.N. sanctioned enforcement of a no-fly-zone over Southern Iraq. In October 1993, ABRAHAM LINCOLN was ordered to the coast of Somalia to assist U.N. hu- Brazil, Argentina and Chile. and surrounding areas, backing American eration Desert Shield Desert Storm. While enroute to the Indian Ocean, the ship was divert- ed to support evacuation operations following the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo on Luzan Island, Repub- lic of the Philippines. Operation Fiery Vigil became the largest peacetime evacuation of active duty military personnel and family members months in SRA and prepared for the next deploy ment.

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The carrier embarked with Carrier Air Wing 14 (CVW 14) in San Diego and headed across the Pacific with the other ships from the battle group. What set this deployment apart from others is the operational debut of next generation Navy technologies. Implementation of these technolo- gies is based on the Chief of Naval Operations ' vision, Sea Power 21 , which builds on U.S. strengths such as information superiority, sea control, fire power and persistence. This deploy- ment represented the largest number of innova- tions in a single battle group in recent history. ABRAHAM LINCOLN relieved the George Washington Battle Group in the Persian Gulf on or about September 11, 2002 and conducted opera- tions in support of Southern Watch for nearly three months when it departed the Gulf and tran- sited out of the region after being relieved by the Constellation. The ship earned the Battle E award for 2002, even with turnovers in leadership. Commanding Officer Capt. Kendall Card took command upon entering 5th fleet in November 2002, three months into deployment. The day after taking command, CVW-14 aircraft launched from his new ship to fly strike missions in the (then) south- ern no-fly zone over Iraq. By mid December 2002 the Lincoln had been relieved by the USS Constellation and began tran- siting back to the United States. On December 18 she was in the Indian Ocean headed for Australia. She arrived in Fremantle on December 22 for a port call where she remained until December 26. In late December reports from the Navy sur- faced indicating that a carrier, either the Lincoln or the Kitty Hawk would be redeployed to the Per- sian Gulf as tensions escalated between raq and the U.S. At that time it was unclear if the Lincoln would remain deployed or if they had just been alerted of the possibility. On December 30 the Lincoln Battle Group was located south of Austra- lia. On December 31, new reports indicated that the Lincoln had indeed been ordered to remain at sea and to redeploy for the Gulf. On January 2, 2003, according to Navy documents, the Lincoln was reported to be Northwest of Australia. On January 3, 2003 the Western Australian Newspa- per reported that the Lincoln would be returning to Fremantle for an extended stay for repairs and maintenance before it would redeploy for the Per- sian Gulf. In the first 1 7 days of Operation Enduring Free- dom (OEF) alone, CVW 14 dropped more than 1 .3 million pounds of ordnance. The ABRAHAM LINCOLN Strike Group and CVW 14 began heading home for their respective homeports April 9th, following an extended de- ployment that was the longest for a carrier in three decades. During the deployment ABRA- HAM LINCOLN ' S Reactor Department worked overtime to continue to produce all the water used for galleys, showers, laundry, drinking and cata- pults. To keep up with the increased tempo of wartime operations they turned sea water into 80 million gallons of usable water. Drinking water in conjunction with 47.5 million sodas and 42,300 gallons of milk, helped wash down 50,600 lbs. of chicken 27,272 lbs. of steak, 16,000 lbs. of shrimp and 29,000 lbs. of hamburgers over the course of the deployment. USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN (CVN 72) returned home May 6, 2003 after nearly 10 months on de- ployment and enjoyed the honor of the first presi- dential landing on an aircraft carrier by President George W. Bush forever remembered by the American public by the phrase Mission Accom- plished. Reports from the Associated Press in mid-May indicated that the Lincoln was to undergo nearly