As CENTCOM Chief Visits 'Miserable' USS Abraham Lincoln, History Offers a Brutal Reality Check
By Teri ChristophU.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Adm. Brad Cooper visited the much-talked-about USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) over the weekend, meeting with Sailors and Marines aboard the aircraft carrier as it comes to the end of what he called one of the most consequential deployments of the modern era.
Cooper's visit to the Lincoln came as he wrapped up a 10-day trip through Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, where he met with civilian and military leaders, as well as American service members who are deployed throughout the area.
He hopped over to the Lincoln, which is currently in the Arabian Sea, before wrapping up his tour and thanked the crew for their "tremendous dedication and courage." This was actually Cooper's second visit to the carrier this year; he previously visited in February with U.S. Special Envoy for Peace Missions Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
Cooper had high praise for what the entire Lincoln Carrier Strike Group has accomplished during its Middle East deployment.
"The Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is a strong team of high-achieving Americans standing tall with immense, justified pride in everything they accomplished," he said. "History will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era."
The San Diego-based Lincoln left for its most recent deployment in November and arrived in the Middle East in January. Since then, per CENTCOM, the carrier strike group has conducted thousands of combat flights in support of Operation Epic Fury, which began on February 28. They've also carried out missions related to regional security and the ongoing U.S. naval blockade against Iran.
They've been kept busy, to be sure, which required its deployment to be extended. And that's where all the "non-troversy" about the Lincoln began. As RedState has been reporting, legacy media and Democrat politicians are trying to make the "conditions" aboard the Lincoln into their latest political cudgel with which to attack President Trump.
The carrier has been at sea for just under nine months and ports of call have been few of late because of the situation with Iran, so of course the Sailors and Marines get stir-crazy from time to time. And, out of the 5,000 crew aboard, some are going to have more serious issues and some are going to complain to mom that the food isn't like her home cooking.
That's life in the military.
Cooper, however, didn't describe a crew in collapse. He described Sailors and Marines who have endured an exceptionally demanding deployment, carried out thousands of combat missions, and have every reason to be proud of what they've accomplished. This echoes what Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said on Friday – the real story is that the crew of the Lincoln "crushed the mission."
To put things in historical perspective, this isn't even the longest Lincoln deployment in recent history; it spent 295 days deployed back in 2019-2020. Then the USS Nimitz came along and completed a 341-day cruise during COVID. Most recently, the USS Gerald R. Ford returned home in May after 326 days at sea, apparently setting a post-Cold War record for a carrier deployment.
 |
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐