As of Monday, Abraham Lincoln had joined the U.S. 5th Fleet, bringing the combat power of Carrier Air Wing 9 and the guided-missile destroyers USS Frank E. Petersen, Jr., USS Spruance, and USS Michael Murphy. The strike group had been operating in the Indian Ocean since at least January 20, following its transit through the Strait of Malacca on January 19.
Abraham Lincoln departed San Diego on November 21 and initially conducted operations in the Philippine Sea before a port call in Guam on December 11. Following that stop, the carrier strike group operated in the South China Sea, according to imagery released by the U.S. Navy.
The move marks the third time a U.S. carrier strike group originally assigned to the Indo-Pacific has been redirected to the Middle East due to regional instability. Abraham Lincoln was similarly rerouted during its 2024 Indo-Pacific deployment, and the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group was ordered to the region in June.
With Abraham Lincoln’s departure from the South China Sea, the forward-deployed USS George Washington remains the only U.S. aircraft carrier assigned to the Indo-Pacific. The carrier is currently undergoing a maintenance period in Yokosuka, Japan.
