Hegseth to welcome USS Abraham Lincoln in San Diego after lengthy deployment

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will travel to San Diego on Tuesday and will welcome the USS Abraham Lincoln crew home on Wednesday after the aircraft carrier extended its deployment to the Middle East.

According to the Pentagon, Hegseth will speak with the ship’s crew, participate in physical training and eat lunch with the service members while in San Diego.

The USS Abraham Lincoln, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, is coming back to the U.S. after an extended deployment in the Middle East, which prompted pushback from congressional Democrats and some former defense officials over reports of degrading mental health of crew on board, tight food supply and poor living conditions.

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Top administration officials, including the defense secretary, defended the conditions onboard the aircraft carrier, which spent more than 280 days without a port call.

“Listen, we make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment,” Hegseth said in August . “Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody. What they do in those high seas and those austere conditions with less port calls, it’s incredible.”

Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao told Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, last month that eight sailors assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group attempted suicide during a grueling deployment, which included military operations against Iran.

A carrier strike group is normally made up of an aircraft carrier, cruisers, destroyers or frigates and a host of aircraft.

Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Ca.), who is on the House Armed Services Committee, visited the aircraft carrier late last month as part of a bipartisan delegation to conduct in-person oversight of the conditions onboard.

“Oversight can’t wait until the USS Abraham Lincoln comes home to San Diego. We deserve answers and accountability now,” Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Ca.), who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, said in a statement on Sept. 27 after a bipartisan delegation conducted in-person oversight of the conditions onboard.

She added, “That’s why I traveled aboard the ship today to conduct oversight in-person. I raised my concerns directly with the ship’s command and received a briefing on logistics, supply issues and lessons learned for future deployments.”