Star Metro - Joy as USS Lincoln back home after troubled Gulf deployment

Families of servicemen and women had lined the quayside in San Diego, California, for hours, waiting to welcome loved ones they have not seen for almost a year.

There were tears of joy as more than 100 new dads met their babies for the first time, or fathers were reunited with children who are so much taller than last time they were together.

"Hi, baby girl, hi!" said one beaming sailor as he held his toddler daughter, planting a kiss on her forehead.

The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier left California in November 2025 for duty in the South China Sea and was rerouted to the Middle East before US-Israeli attacks on Iran that began in late February.

The vessel stayed at sea until a port call in Thailand in early September.

Ahead of the reunions, Alba Solano told AFP she had struggled to communicate with her partner during the mission.

"We heard from him through e-mails... we were able to text here and there. Phone calls were terrible. It never worked. He could hear us, but we couldn't hear him," she said.

"Video calls were very glitchy. So, it was ok. We got to hear from him when he was in Thailand. So, that was a good, clear phone call that we had in a long time."

The lengthy deployment took a toll on US military personnel on the Lincoln and accompanying warships.

In August, military families and lawmakers sounded the alarm about issues including reported suicide attempts and food shortages aboard the carrier.

Last month, the Trump administration acknowledged in a letter to a lawmaker that there had been eight suicide attempts by US service members who were part of the Lincoln carrier strike group but said none of those people died.

The letter from Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao provided details on some of the suicide attempts.

It said a sailor assigned to an air wing "went overboard from the ship in early August" and was quickly recovered, while another sailor "attempted to go overboard in March and was stopped by his shipmates."

The letter also said that while food supplies on the carrier were "adequate," limited resupply options during combat led the "number of main entree options" to be reduced from "two to one for a short time."

- 'Land!' -

Patricia Harmon, an Army veteran who was awaiting the return of her sailor son, said she imagined that life aboard the ship had been hard.

"I'm sure it had to be challenging, because there was no outlets," she told AFP.

"He was there longer than we expected, but that's life in the military."

But, she said, the hardships of the last few months were fading.

"Looking forward to seeing him, and he's excited. He's already texted me, and his first word: 'Land!' So, we're excited."

The arrival in port came the day after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth boarded the Lincoln to congratulate the crew on their mission.

"What the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group did, no other carrier strike group has ever done," Hegseth told sailors.

"Ten thousand sorties, 23,000 combat flight hours, almost 4,000 combat sorties," he said, later announcing the award of a presidential unit citation to the strike group for "extraordinary heroism against enemy forces."

S.Cloutier--SMC