Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) - Naval Cruise Book

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2000 a prepared ' In April 1 Pacific and Singapore OIT Gulf, Lincoln lent supportto in reponse to renewed Iraqi Inilitary ipqsturing, -The 9 Lincoln Battle Groupalsoparticipatedl in Operation Vigilant Sentinel. Upon returning from deployment, I 1 i A Lincoln left Alameda, Calif., for the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash. There the ship underwent a one-year comprehensive overhaul including a period in dry dockg Following completion of the project, the ship moved to its current homeport of Everett, Wash., January 8, 1997. n In June 1998, Abraham commenced her fourth deploy- ment, spending three months in the Arabian Gulf during the hottest summer on record. Apparent temperatures on the flight deck at midday sometimes reached 150 degrees Fahrenheit! Port visits enroute to the Gulf included Hong Kong and Singapore. After several visits to Jebel Ali, UAE, between Operation Southem Watch missions, Abe headed home by way of Perth, Australia, Hobart, Tasmania and Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, arriving in Everett before the Christmas Holiday. ,. 4 ? v f v . f .., '93 ' 'i - 5El23,?!5 f51:?17 .,.,D- Y , -3 Z 'f:vf2 V M?-f 5, if ' ' , By - 9954 LJ like . 4 , -L+-we A -. N- X A . Following a break, the ship visited Santa Barbara, Calif., then commenced a six-month Planned Incremental Availability CPIAJ in Bremerton, Wash., in April 1999. A After completion of the PIA in September 1999, Abe par- ticipated in Fleet Week '99 in San Francisco, Calif. The crew then began nine-month Inter-DeploymentTraining me CIDTCD during' w ' . ' . i t A hich the ship revisited if f ' QQ.-fi,,.,-dw 1 ily August 17, 2000, for a scheduled six-month Western Pacific and Arabian Gulf deployment. The carrier was joined the following week off the coast of Southem California by Carrier Air Wing 14 CCVW 1 l4j. The carrier and nine squadrons spent the majority rf of the deployment in the Arabian Gulf supporting Operation Southern Watch which included the enforce- ment of the no fly zone over South Iraq. The Lincoln Battle Group, under the command of , Rear Adm. Phillip Balisle, was comprised of the , carrier, which served as the command ship for the r battle group, and eight other vessels. I 1 On February 10, 2001, Lincoln brought their six- Vt month deployment to an end as the carrier arrived in its homeport of Everett, Wash. During the initial transit phase, port visits to Hong 1 1 Kong, Singapore, and Thailand were scheduled. Weather diverts, causing the delay of numerous flying days, resulted in the cancellation of stops in Hong Kong and Singapore, National Command Authority tasking to relieve the on-station carrier battle group in p the Arabian Gulf resulted in the by-passing of I Thailand. Relieving the USS GeorgeWashington Battle Group ahead of schedule, Lincoln assumed the duties as the tip of the spear carrier, read 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 Gulf. The primary r factor for this was the terrorist attack on USS Cole and the subsequent elevation in threat condition in the region. Meanwhile, Sailors concetrated on providing the services necessary to fly nearly 1,500 sorties over Iraq. Following 100 days in the Arabian Gulf, the 1 carrier headed for some much needed liberty in Aus- tralia. After taking in the sights down under the carrieribegan its transit across .the Pacific.. ' In April of 2001, the ship,mOVCd t Puget Soun i i for ai scheduled d. n 9 Barbara and

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.352 .. USS Abraham Lincoln QCVN 725 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 QSSBN 6021 was in service 1961 thru 1981. Lincoln's keel was laid Nov. 3, 1984 at Newport News, Va. Four years later the ship was christened and began a series of performance trials leading up to com- missioning Nov. 11, 1989 at Norfolk, Va. After completing shakedown and acceptance trials, Lincoln departed Norfolk in September 1990 for an inter- fleet transfer from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The ship completed a transit around South America with the naval forces of several South American countries including Brazil, Argentina, and Chile. , On May 28, 1991, Lincoln made its maiden Western Pacific deployment nearly four months ahead of schedule in response to Operation Desert SheildlDesert Storm. While enroute to the Indian Ocean, the ship was diverted to support evacuation operations following the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo on Luzan Island, Republic of the Philip- pines. Operation Fiery Vigil became the largest peace- time evacuation of active duty military personnel and family members. 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 CCVW 115 the embarked Air Wing, provided combat air patrol, recon- naissance and support operations over Kuwait and Iraq. . Lincoln remained in the Gulf for more than three P 1. W months.evacuation of active dutyirrliljtarygpgrggnnel and e The ship spent early 1992 in a Selected Restricted Availability CSRAJ at Naval Air Station Alameda. 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. I In October 1993, Lincoln was ordered to the coast of Somalia to assist U.N. humanitarian operations. The carrier spent four weeks flying patrols over the city of Mogadishu and surrounding areas, backing American ground troops during Operation Restore Hope. 1. i A. 1 T 1 I Ji l I 1 1 l 1 1 if I n V 4 'I T 5 w I l I I 4 1 1 f 1 I l 1 l l I 1 n A - ,Q?f:'f' 1 1 Q 1 , I family members, ...P I 4 1 1

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f .,,g1f 1'! ' 11,1 BLVQIQQ.. in xi :?3'3!:'2'l+ . . -50. . ' U 3 1. . 'ii ifsfil iff 4 . . it a 2 L- Y The carrier embarked with Carrier Air Wing 14 CCVW 141 set in San Diego and headed across the Pacific with the other ships from the battle group. What sets this deployment apart from others was the operational debut of next generation Navy technologies. Implementation of these technologies is based on the Chief of Naval Operations' vision, Sea Power 21, which builds on U.S. strengths such as information supe- riority, sea control, fire power and persistence. The deployment represented the largest number of innova- tions in a single battle group in recent history. t Lincoln relieved the George Washington Battle Group in the Persian Gulf on or about September 11, 2002 and conducted operations in support of Southern Watch for nearly three months when it departed the Gulf and transited out of the Region after being relieved by USS Constellation. The ship eamed 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 southem no-fly zone over Iraq. By mid December 2002 USS Lincoln had been relieved by the USS Constellation and began transiting 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 aportcall where she remained until December 26. ' . 4 . f In late December reports from the Navy 'surfaced f if indicating that aa carrier, either, Lincolnor was 1, new reports to remain 2, 2003, ,was reported to 3, 2003, the that Lincoln wpuld an extended stay for repairs and It would redeploy for the Persian Gulf. ' 'L' I 7 A 7 , I In first 17 days of Operation Enduring Freedom QOEFJ alone, CVW 14 dropped more than 1.3 million pounds of ordances. ' I The Lincoln Strike Group and CVW 14 began heading home for their respective homeports April 9th, following an extended deployment that was the longest for a carrier in three decades. During the deployment Lincoln's Reactor Department worked overtime to continue to produce all the water usedfor galleys, showers, laundry, drinking and catapults. To keep up with the increased tempo of wartime operations, they turned sea water into 80 million gallons of usuable water. Drinking water in conjunction with 47.5 million sodas and 42,3000 gallons of milk, helped wash down 50,6000 lbs. of chicken 27,272 lbs. of steak, 16,000 lbs. of shrimp and 29,000 lbs. over the course of the 003 after nearly 10 Lincoln retumed 6, 2 months on deployment the honor of the first presidential landing carrier by President George W. Bush by the American public by the phrase Accomplished. ,Press in mid-May indicated nearly 10.5 months of main- if from the 2002-2003 the Lincoln available aS sooner than June 2004. of Defense between the Reports from the that Lincoln was tenance and yard time deployment. That an emergency, surge e 'On June would be redeployed to the escalated for a Phased work to be was to