USS Abraham Lincoln conducting combat operations in support of Operation Southern Watch, 28 November 2002
Career
Ordered:	27 December 1982
Laid down:	3 November 1984
Launched:	13 February 1988
Commissioned:	11 November 1989
Status:	Active in service as of 2005.
General Characteristics
Displacement:	81,208 tons light, 104,112 tons full, 22,904 tons dead
Length:	1092 ft (333 m) overall, 1040 ft (317 m) waterline
Beam:	252 ft (77 m) extreme, 134 ft (41 m) waterline
Draft:	42 ft (12.8 m) maximum, 41 ft (12.5 m) limit
Speed:	30+ knots (56 km/h)
Complement:	200 officers, 6,075 enlisted
Armament:	3 Sea Sparrow, 4 Phalanx CIWS, 90 Aircraft

The second USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), nicknamed "Abe", is the fifth Nimitz-class supercarrier in the United States Navy. The ship is named in honor of former president Abraham Lincoln, and homeported in Everett, Washington.

Ship history

The contract to build her was awarded to Newport News Shipbuilding on 27 December 1982 and her keel was laid down 3 November 1984 at Newport News, Virginia. She was launched on 13 February 1988, delivered to the Navy on 30 October 1989, and commissioned on 11 November 1989.

Following a post-commissioning shakedown Abraham Lincoln was transferred to the Pacific, in September 1990.

Abraham Lincoln's maiden Western Pacific deployment came unexpectedly on 28 May 1991 in response to Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm. While heading toward the Indian Ocean, the ship was diverted to support evacuation operartions after Mount Pinatubo erupted on Luzon island in the Philippines. In support of Operation Fiery Vigil, 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.

Upon completement of Fiery Vigil, Lincoln steamed toward the Persian Gulf, where she ran reconnaissance and combat air patrols in Iraq and Kuwait to assist allied and U.S. troops involved with Desert Storm. Abraham Lincoln remained on station for three months.

In early 1992, the ship was at Naval Air Station Alameda on selected restricted availability, returned on 15 June 1993 for a brief visit to Hong Kong before returning to the Persian Gulf, this time to support Operation Southern Watch, the U.N. Sanctioned "no fly zone" over southern Iraq.

In October of 1993 the carrier was ordered to the coast of Somalia to assist U.N. humanitarian operations. For four weeks, Abraham Lincoln flew air patrols over Mogadishu in support of Operation Restore Hope. Lincoln returned home in December of 1993, where she spent the next several months in selected restricted availability while crews prepared her for her next deployment.

Abraham Lincoln's third deployment began in April of 1995 when Abraham Lincoln was redeployed to the Persian Gulf, where the ship assisted in Southern Watch and in Operation Vigilant Sentinel. Upon completion of this deployment the ship was brought to the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, where she was dry-docked for a one year overhaul. After this overhaul the ship was moved to her new home in Everett, on 8 January 1997.

Abraham Lincoln began her fouth deployment in June 1998. Once again, the ship headed for the Persian Gulf in support of Southern Watch. The ship spent three months in the gulf during one of the hottest summers on recent record. Temperatures on the flight deck were reported to have hit 150 degrees F. On the return leg the ship made several port calls, arriving back in the states in time for the Christmas holiday.

In 1999 the ship underwent a six-month Planned Incremental Availability in Bremerton, which lasted into April. In September of the same year Abraham Lincoln participated in Fleet Week '99 in San Francisco, California, followed by a nine-month Inter-Deployment Training Cycle before participating in RIMPAC, a milti-national training exercise conducted off the Hawaiian Islands. Abraham Lincoln completed both the IDTC and RIMPAC, then proceeded on a deployment to the Persian Gulf in support of Southern Watch. On this deployment, the carrier, air wing and battle group ships earned the Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation. Additionally the ship earned the prestigious Arleigh Burke Award as the most improved command in the Pacific Fleet.

Abraham Lincoln was one of several naval vessels that were redeployed after 11 September 2001. While information on the ship's participation in Operation Enduring Freedom is unclear, we do know that the carrier was involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom, operating in the Persian Gulf.

Abraham Lincoln was on a port call in Hong Kong in late 2004 when a 9.0 magnitude earthquake struck southern Asia. The ship was deployed to the hard hit western coast of Sumatra to provide humanitarian assistance following the earthquake and tsunami in Operation Unified Assistance. In mid-January, Lincoln steamed out of Indonesian waters after the Indonesian government refused to allow fighter pilots assigned to Lincoln to conduct air patrols and training flights. [1] (http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=535&ncid=535&e=4&u=/ap/20050112/ap_on_re_as/tsunami). Despite the move into international waters, Lincoln continued to provide support until 4 February. During her 33 days on station, she and her strike group delivered 5,711,866 pounds of relief supplies. The 17 helicopters attached to group flew 1,747 relief missions up and down the western coast of Sumatra. Her departure coincided with the arrival of the hospital ship Mercy.

The "Mission Accomplished" controversy

On 1 May 2003 President George W. Bush safely landed in an S-3B Viking on the deck of Abraham Lincoln, which was returning from a nearly ten month deployment for operations in Afghanistan and Operation Iraqi Freedom. The deployment was the longest of an aircraft carrier since the Vietnam War. The President landed while the carrier was underway about 30 miles (50 km) off the coast of San Diego, California. It was the first time a sitting president arrived on the deck of an aircraft carrier by plane. Bush made a primetime address from the flightdeck, surrounded by hundreds of sailors, in which he declared major combat operations in Iraq over.

Critics characterized the event as footage for a campaign advertisement; in the background was a large banner reading "Mission Accomplished", made by a private vendor at the request of the White House, and put up on Abraham Lincoln's island by the crew. It was unclear whether the banner referred to the ship's mission or to the Iraq war as a whole, and different explanations were put out; it was several months before the White House admitted that they had had the banner made and offered it to Abraham Lincoln. As combat in Iraq continued, the banner came to be an embarrassment to the President, and in April 2004, Bush adviser Karl Rove told The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, "I wish the banner was not up there." [2] (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/04/30/politics/main614998.shtml)

In addition to the banner, the manner in which the President landed on the carrier was the subject of some controversy, since although the original rationale for using the jet was that Abraham Lincoln was too far offshore for the usual helicopter arrival, the ship was well within range by the time of the landing. Presumably planners for the event realized that the President's traveling staff, camera crews, and their equipment would not themselves fit into S-3Bs, and so the carrier had to be brought within helicopter range so that they could be on hand and set up to film the landing.

Cultural references

• In the 2003 movie The Core, Abraham Lincoln makes an appearance in a search-and-rescue mission; while not mentioned by name, "CVN-72" caps are readily apparent in scenes on the bridge.
• In Tom Clancy's novel Debt of Honor, Abraham Lincoln is one of two carriers sent to protect Sri Lanka from the Indian Navy.
• In Tom Clancy's novel Executive Orders, Abraham Lincoln is one of two carriers moved to China to establish a U.S. presence after an airliner is shot down.

See also

• See USS Abraham Lincoln for other Navy ships of the same name.

External links

• Abraham Lincoln homepage (http://www.cvn72.navy.mil)
• USS Abraham Lincoln webpage (http://www.navysite.de/cvn/cvn72.html)

ja:エイブラハム・リンカーン (空母) zh:美國林肯號航空母艦