On Friday, November 21, the U.S. Navy’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) departed Naval Base San Diego, California, heading toward the Western Pacific to rejoin the U.S. 7th Fleet’s area of responsibility. According to a Pentagon official, CVN-72 will lead Carrier Strike Group 3, accompanied by Carrier Air Wing 8 (CVW-8) and the guided-missile destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG-21).
The USS Abraham Lincoln’s departure is unusual due to the short interval since its most recent extended deployment, which concluded in December 2024 after 162 days of combined operations in the Middle East and the Pacific. It is worth noting that throughout the current year the nuclear-powered carrier has remained active, conducting various exercises and certifications, including its participation in Exercise Northern Edge 2025, held in August in Alaska along with units from its strike group formed for that activity.
This new departure also takes place outside the standard maintenance, training, and deployment cycle (Optimized Fleet Response Plan), which covers 36-month periods. For several analysts, the decision to send the Abraham Lincoln back out to sea responds to additional operational requirements arising in the Indo-Pacific, where Washington has reinforced its military presence in response to China’s growing air-naval capabilities, and considering that the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN-68) is nearing retirement.
The ship’s recent operational background explains the strategic value of its return to the Pacific theater and the weight its presence carries within the Pentagon’s regional strategy. In this regard, part of its 2024 deployment included a rotation in the Middle East under the command of the 5th Fleet, in response to increasing incidents in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Red Sea, where attacks on merchant vessels and threats from state and non-state actors were reported. The Lincoln’s presence formed part of the surveillance, escort, and deterrence missions that the United States maintains to ensure freedom of navigation and reinforce maritime security alongside regional partners. Its departure toward the Pacific in late November 2024 temporarily left the 5th Fleet without a carrier, highlighting the need to redistribute assets to areas of greater strategic pressure.
Then, in early December 2024, the Abraham Lincoln was deployed to the South China Sea, where it conducted air operations and naval patrols in support of freedom of navigation before moving to the Philippine Sea amid growing tensions with Beijing over its activities near key maritime routes and the exclusive economic zones of countries such as the Philippines, Vietnam, and Malaysia. During the first days of December, the carrier was observed operating near the so-called first island chain, coinciding with Chinese bomber flights and regional naval exercises.
After returning to the U.S. West Coast at the end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025, CVN-72 took part in the Northern Edge 2025 exercise in the Gulf of Alaska in August, where its strike group rehearsed high-intensity combat operations and multidomain warfare in an extreme environment. All these recent events underscore that the CVN-72’s rapid return to the Pacific highlights the importance the United States places on maintaining a permanent presence in a region where strategic competition with China has steadily intensified.
Cover image used for illustrative purposes.
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