The troubled USS Abraham Lincoln docked at a resort in Thailand after more than 250 days at sea and extended deployment in the Middle East.
The aircraft carrier is stopping in the resort city of Pattaya, giving the 5,000 sailors and marines on board a chance to rest and recuperate from the gruelling tour before heading home. The visit is the Lincoln’s first full port stop after 286 days at sea from the start of the deployment.
The vessel left its home port of San Diego last November and was redirected to the Middle East to support military operations in the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran.
The carrier’s lengthy deployment ended following a series of reports flagging deteriorating mental health among the crew and a shortage of supplies.
It was relieved in August by the usually Asia-based USS George Washington.
Ahead of the ship’s arrival on Wednesday, Pattaya authorities launched a crack down on prostitution. Police detained 40-50 people during raids over the weekend and started additional patrols along the main beachfront and in the nightlife district.
Pattaya was a fishing village before it became a tourism centre during the Vietnam War, with American servicemen stationed at bases nearby. It has since developed a reputation for sex tourism, an image the city has tried to shed over the years.
Families of sailors claimed they were so desperate after months on board that some had tried to jump overboard.
Defense secretary Pete Hegseth pushed back on claims of poor conditions aboard the aircraft carrier, claiming they were "completely misrepresented".
“We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment. Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody,” he said last month. “What they do in those high seas in those austere conditions with less port calls. It's incredible.”
The Lincoln made its way into the Laem Chabang port in Chonburi province shortly after the destroyer USS Frank E Petersen Jr sailed past the area.
The American embassy in Bangkok confirmed the carrier’s arrival. It said that the Lincoln's strike group arrived in Laem Chabang, while the USS Frank E Petersen Jr docked at the nearby port of Sriracha, and the guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls in Map Ta Phut in neighbouring Rayong province.
“Abraham Lincoln’s visit to Laem Chabang is a clear demonstration of our enduring commitment to our allies and partners in Thailand, and we are all very excited to make Thailand the first port visit on our historic deployment,” Captian Dan Keeler, the carrier’s commanding officer, said in the statement on Wednesday.
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