USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72)
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| Career
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| Ordered:
| 27 December 1982
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| Laid down:
| 3 November 1984
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| Launched:
| 13 February 1988
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| Commissioned:
| 11 November 1989
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| Fate:
| in active service
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| General Characteristics
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| Displacement:
| 81,208 tons light, 104,112 tons full, 22,904 tons dead
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| Length:
| 1092 ft (333 m) overall, 1040 ft (317 m) waterline
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| Beam:
| 252 ft (77 m) extreme, 134 ft (41 m) waterline
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| Draft:
| 42 ft (12.8 m) maximum, 41 ft (12.5 m) limit
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| Speed:
| 30+ knots (56 km/h)
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| Complement:
| 200 officers, 6,075 enlisted
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| Armament:
| 3 Sea Sparrow, 4 Phalanx CIWS, 90 Aircraft
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| Nickname:
| Abe
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The second USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), nicknamed "Abe", is the fifth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier 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 transfered to the Pacific, in September 1990.
The 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. Lincoln remained on station for three months.
In early 1992, the ship was at Naval Air Station Alemeda 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, the 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 the 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 Pudget 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. Abe completed both the IDTC and RIMPAC, then proceeded on a deployment to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation 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.
The "Mission Accomplished" controversy
On 1 May 2003 President George W. Bush safely landed in an S-3B Viking on the deck of the 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 the 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 made the banner made and offered it to the Lincoln. As combat in Iraq continued, the banner came to be an embarassment to the President, and in April 2004, Bush adviser Karl Rove told the 2003 movie The Core, the 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.
