USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72)
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) is the fifth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier in the United States Navy. She is the third Navy ship to have been named after the former President Abraham Lincoln. Her home port is NAS North Island, San Diego, California; she is a member of the United States Pacific Fleet. She is administratively responsible to Commander, Naval Air Forces Pacific, and operationally serves as the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 3 and host to Carrier Air Wing Nine.[4] She was returned to the fleet on 12 May 2017, marking the successful completion of her Refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) carried out at Newport News Shipyard. On 1 April 2019, USS Abraham Lincoln was deployed to the Middle East as the flagship for Carrier Strike Group 12 and Carrier Air Wing Seven assigned to her.
For other ships with the same name, see USS Abraham Lincoln.Ship history[edit]
Construction[edit]
Abraham Lincoln's contract was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding on 27 December 1982; her keel was laid 3 November 1984 at Newport News, Virginia. The ship was launched on 13 February 1988 and commissioned on 11 November 1989. She cost $4.726 billion in 2010 dollars.
1990 to 1999[edit]
Abraham Lincoln was transferred to the Pacific in September 1990 performing Gringo-Gaucho with the Argentine Naval Aviation during the transit. From 4 October, Abraham Lincoln formed CTG 24.8 in company with USS Doyle; 6 October transit with USS Pawcatuck and Doyle in company.[5] On 5 November 1990, as Abraham Lincoln was anchored in Valparaíso, Frente Patriótico Manuel Rodríguez guerrillas detonated a bomb inside the restaurant Max und Moritz, in the seaside resort of Viña del Mar, wounding three of her sailors.[6]
Abraham Lincoln's maiden Western Pacific deployment came unexpectedly on 28 May 1991 in response to Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. The ship had the staffs of Commander, Carrier Group Three, Rear Admiral Timothy W. Wright, and Destroyer Squadron 9 embarked, as well as Carrier Air Wing Eleven. She was accompanied by a seven-ship battle group.[7]
While heading towards the Indian Ocean, the ship was diverted to support evacuation operations after Mount Pinatubo erupted on Luzon Island in the Philippines. In support of Operation Fiery Vigil, Abraham Lincoln led a 23-ship armada that moved over 45,000 people from the Subic Bay Naval Station to the port of Cebu in the Visayas. It was the largest peacetime evacuation of active military personnel and their families in history. One baby was born onboard Abraham Lincoln during the evacuation; his mother named him Abraham Lincoln Prestera. After Fiery Vigil, Abraham Lincoln steamed toward the Persian Gulf, to run reconnaissance and combat air patrols in Iraq and Kuwait, assisting allied and US troops involved with Desert Storm. In early 1992, the ship was at Naval Air Station Alameda on Ship's Restricted Availability for minor maintenance and refitting.
From June 1993, Abraham Lincoln was the flagship of Commander, Carrier Group Three.[8] In October 1993, the carrier was ordered to the coast of Somalia to assist UN humanitarian operations. For four weeks, Abraham Lincoln flew air patrols over Mogadishu in support of Operation Restore Hope.
Abraham Lincoln was to be the first Pacific Fleet carrier to integrate female aviators into the crew after the Combat Exclusion Laws were lifted on 28 April 1993. The ship left San Diego on 24 October 1994, to begin refresher training. The next day, Lieutenant Kara Spears Hultgreen, the first female F-14 Tomcat pilot, died when her plane crashed into the sea. Her F-14 suffered a compressor stall as she made her final approach, losing power to one of the engines. She aborted the landing to the best of her ability in an effort to prevent a collision with the aft end of the ship and the plane inverted and went into the ocean. Radar intercept officer Lieutenant Matthew Klemish ejected safely from the plane and was rescued from the water minutes later, but Hultgreen, who was automatically ejected 0.4 seconds after Klemish, rocketed straight into the ocean and was instantly killed. Her body, still strapped in the ejection seat, was recovered 19 days later.[9]
Abraham Lincoln's third deployment began in April 1995 when she was sent to the Persian Gulf and took part in Southern Watch and in Operation Vigilant Sentinel.[10] During an underway replenishment, Abraham Lincoln was run into by USS Sacramento, when the latter had steering difficulties due to a split rudder, impacting Sacramento's port side, crushing the M-frames, partially crushing a female crew berthing area, and punching a large hole in Abraham Lincoln's superstructure (TACAN room). Abraham Lincoln was able to continue on with her mission, while Sacramento had to dock at Jebel Ali, UAE, for several weeks for repair.