The long-deployed USS Lincoln returns home to San Diego Bay

CORONADO, Calif. (AP) — Sailors disembarked the USS Lincoln on Thursday following a deployment that included a record 265 uninterrupted days at sea supporting the Iran war and reports of supply shortages and deteriorating mental health among the crew.

Families waiting for the aircraft carrier’s arrival in San Diego Bay described crying and losing sleep after hearing about the ship’s food shortages and tough conditions. Many said the sailors had sent lists of the food they were craving.

Abel Ramirez, 20, walked off the carrier with a big grin, overjoyed that his first deployment was over.

“It feels amazing,” he said while headed out to search for his parents who drove from Texas. “There was a certain point when I never thought I would come off.”

The carrier drew national attention following reports of stress among the crew and poor mental health, as well as supply shortages, including food and hygiene products, during its Iran war mission.

Dozens of sailors stood atop the Lincoln as it glided past the cityscape of downtown San Diego toward cheering families who were carrying flowers and balloons and ringing cowbells.

Cassity Garduque, 14, waved as her mom in her sailor uniform frantically waved back from the top deck. “It feels really overwhelming,” she said about being reunited, adding she’s glad her mom won’t need to eat ramen almost every day.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew out to the Lincoln on Wednesday to give the crew the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest honor a unit can receive.

Hegseth pushed back against what he said were efforts to turn the “Lincoln into some sort of a symbol, a symbol of dysfunction or a symbol of low morale or a symbol of a failed mission.”

Capt. Daniel Keeler, the ship’s commander, said most of the crew was on their first deployment and that the issues they faced were normal for such a long deployment, adding everyone had access to four meals a day.

USS Lincoln crew looks forward to family and favorite meals

Among the first to depart the carrier at the naval base in Coronado were 64 fathers meeting their babies for the first time, the Navy said.

Waiting for the Lincoln to bring her husband home, sailor Kathy Monterrosa held her 6-month-old daughter, Sarahi, outfitted in a tiny blue and white sailor dress.

“She’s our deployment baby,” said Monterrosa, of Virginia Beach, Virginia.

It was tough to hear about the ship’s conditions while she was pregnant, she said. “I was crying a lot and worried. I wasn’t sure if he was OK or not,” she said.

When she finally heard from her husband, he told her it was “pretty bad.”

Sailor Steven Rivas beamed as he held is 7-month-old daughter.

“I couldn’t grasp the reality of it,” he said about coming home. He said he became overwhelmed as they pulled into the bay, “seeing everyone and knowing my family was waiting for me.”

Alma Solano Velez said her husband gave his family an extensive list of the foods he has been craving over the past 10 months: oxtail, barbecue chicken, broccoli and shrimp empanadas to name a few.

He had told his wife about “the lack of food and showers” on board and was looking forward to seeing their daughter, who turned 4 while he was away, she said.

The Navy initially downplayed problems on the carrier

The Navy initially downplayed any problems during the deployment, and President Donald Trump commented in August that the Lincoln’s lengthy deployment was “not nearly long enough.”

Hegseth told the crew that “what makes the U.S. military and the U.S. Navy and all these sailors different is that you adapt and that you’re resilient and you overcome — you finish the mission nonetheless.”

The carrier left San Diego in November and arrived in the Middle East in January. U.S. and Israeli forces launched airstrikes against Iran on Feb. 28.

Navy leaders eventually acknowledged there were some issues aboard.

In August, acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said the Lincoln maintained adequate food supplies, but because combat operations limited resupply opportunities, meal options were reduced for a short time.

After more than 10 months at sea, the Lincoln’s crew got a stop in Thailand early last month on the way back from the Middle East.

Long deployments can tax service members

Extended naval deployments can wear on service members who are away from home for long periods and increase strain on the ship and its equipment.

The Navy told lawmakers that eight sailors attempted suicide during the record-setting deployment, though experts say that number is low in a strike group of 6,000 sailors over 10 months.

According to the citation that Hegseth read to the crew, the Lincoln and its strike group executed nearly 3,700 combat missions, launched 450 Tomahawk cruise missiles, shot down 77 one-way attack drones, sank 64 Iranian warships, and destroyed 21 anti-ship cruise missiles.

The Lincoln, which set a record for days between ports of call, is the second carrier to endure an unusually long deployment during the Iran war and to receive the Presidential Unit Citation afterward, typically reserved for significant achievement in combat.

The crew of the USS Gerald R. Ford returned in May from a 326-day deployment — the longest for an aircraft carrier in the past 50 years and a record in the post-Vietnam War era. The deployment didn’t include as many uninterrupted days at sea as the Lincoln.

Another carrier, the usually Asia-based USS George Washington, relieved the Lincoln in the Middle East in August.

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Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio.

Julie Watson And John Seewer, The Associated Press