After 321 grueling days at sea, thousands of US sailors finally got the homecoming they’d been waiting nearly a year for — complete with tearful embraces, American flags and dozens of babies meeting their dads for the first time.
The USS Abraham Lincoln steamed into its homeport at Naval Air Station North Island in Coronado on Thursday, ending a record-setting deployment in the Middle East amid the war against Iran.
Hundreds of loved ones lined the pier to welcome home roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines who had been away since last November, waving flags and holding signs as the carrier pulled in.
Photos captured emotional reunions as families embraced service members who had spent months on the front lines — including more than 280 days at sea without a port call before the ship docked in Thailand in September.
“We would have come in anywhere his ship was coming in,” Lisa Bisson, who traveled from Maine with her family to see son Joseph return, told the San Diego Tribune.
For some families, the homecoming marked a first meeting after 10 months in the making.
About 50 babies were waiting for their fathers, including sailor Brent Ledbetter, who helps launch and recover aircraft aboard the carrier and left for deployment shortly before his son was born.
“I just want to hold him, play with him,” Ledbetter told NBC News.
“He’s crawling around now, so I’m excited to chase him around the house and give him all the love that, that, you know —have been kind of withheld for the last 10 months. I’m so excited.”
The Lincoln had originally been expected home before summer, but the deployment was extended in January as the carrier was sent to patrol the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz in the Arabian Sea. A second extension followed as the conflict continued, according to the Union-Tribune.
The prolonged deployment came with mounting concerns about conditions aboard the ship, including reports of mental health struggles, self-harm and shortages of food and water.
Adm. Brad Cooper, head of US Central Command, visited the carrier in the north Arabian Sea in August, acknowledging that the crew was “tired” after its record-setting deployment while insisting sailors remained ready for action.
“I was blown away by this strong group of high-achieving Americans standing tall with justified pride in everything they have accomplished,” Cooper wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
The admiral also acknowledged the toll of the mission, writing: “I also saw the reality of more than 260 days at sea with more than 150 days in a combat zone, while speaking with sailors in spaces most guests don’t see.”
Cooper admitted the sailors aboard the Lincoln were “tired” after a record-setting deployment, though he stressed they were still firing “on all cylinders.”
“I was blown away by this strong group of high-achieving Americans standing tall with justified pride in everything they have accomplished,” Cooper wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
The admiral also praised the crew for withstanding Iranian attempts to sink the carrier while carrying out hundreds of missions aimed at weakening the Islamic Republic’s military.
