What A Carrier Deployment Looks Like Today

On January 23, 2022, the U.S. carrier USS Abraham Lincoln left its homeport in San Diego, CA, for its most recent deployment. It spent the next 7 months conducting training exercises with several of our allies and partners in the Pacific region. This video gives you a look at what they accomplished.

For over 220 days this year, while most of us went about our daily duties and handled our daily concerns, the men and women of the USS Abraham Lincoln conducted incredibly complex exercises throughout the Pacific, in the South China and Philippine Seas. They did so alongside, and in coordination with, among others, the South Korean and Japanese navies.

This video will give you a real sense of how much was accomplished by the Lincoln over those 220 days. The following are some of the stats:

The USS Abraham Lincoln sailed over 65,000 nautical miles on this deployment. She and her crew conducted 21,341 flight hours and 10,341 sorties. They also conducted 8,437 launches and 8,487 recoveries. These stats do not show the number of hours that her flight deck crews put in to make those launches and recoveries successful.

Of course, the larger reason for this deployment was to plan, prepare, and conduct battle exercises with our allies and partners in the volatile South China and Philippine Sea regions at this time. The fact is that no single country can handle the challenges that are potentially present in that part of the world alone. These carrier strike force exercises with our allies and regional partners are vital to maintain and to ensure that the seas remain free and open to all and to potentially defend our allies and partners, if necessary.

This was also a dual-carrier deployment, as the Abraham Lincoln teamed up with the USS Carl Vinson in these exercises. They participated in five separate exercises, including: Noble Fusion, Jungle Warfare, Valient Shield, Noble Partner, and the 2022 Rim of the Pacific exercise.

We can be assured that our United States Navy is committed to being the most highly trained and skilled naval force in the world. The need for these deployments and allied training exercises is incalculable and quite necessary at this time. We all hope that they will never have to be used, but preparedness is essential in every conceivable way.

Congratulations to the USS Abraham Lincoln and its crew on its return home after a very successful deployment.