laststandonzombieisland

Sure, the Hegseth speech quickly became a Saturday Night Live cold open, but you have to salute the crew of Carrier Strike Group Three’s USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9, who just completed 322 days deployed and earned a hard-won Presidential Unit Citation without an aircraft mishap.

She steamed into San Diego on Friday looking good, thanks to a quick five-day touch-up by local yard personnel in Laem Chabang Port, Thailand, on the way home, while her crew got some much-needed Libo at Pattaya Beach.

Check out the “scoreboard,” similar to those seen on WWII fleet carriers, including 10 submarines and 33 surface ships, not to mention the drones and cruise missiles.

By the numbers:

• The ship steamed more than 93,000 nautical miles, conducted 72 replenishments-at-sea, and received more than 20.5 million gallons of aviation fuel during the operations.
• The 322 days nearly eclipse the epic 326-day cruise of USS Gerald R. Ford, which holds that dubious post-Cold War record, and nearly match the Vietnam-era deployment of USS Midway, which topped 332 days.
• She went 265 days without a port call.
• Over the deployment, the air wing safely completed 14,037 aircraft sorties and accumulated 31,460 forward-deployed flight hours.
• Operation Epic Fury saw CVW-9 launch into a 38-day air and sea campaign “to degrade Iranian power projection capabilities and defend our national interests. The air wing destroyed offensive missile sites, production facilities, military infrastructure, and naval combatants before an early April ceasefire.”
• This included 160 straight combat hours at the start of the operation.
• CVW-9 expended 1,499 precision weapons, delivering over 1.37 million pounds of ordnance against U.S. Central Command priority targets during the air and sea campaign, “while simultaneously executing robust defensive operations to shield the strike group from attacks.”
• The strike group shot down 77 one-way attack drones, sank 64 Iranian warships, and destroyed 21 anti-ship cruise missiles.

The nine squadrons in the air wing are:

• Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314 (F-35Cs)
• Strike Fighter Squadrons (VFA) 14, VFA-41 and VFA-151 (F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet)
• Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 133 (EA-18G Growlers)
• Airborne Command and Control Squadron (VAW) 117 (E-2D Hawkeyes)
• Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 71 (MH-60R Seahawks)
• Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 14 (MH-60S Seahawks)
• Fleet Logistics Multi-Mission Squadron (VRM) 30 (CMV-22B Osprey COD)

The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group consists of:

• The flagship Abraham Lincoln with the embarked staff of Carrier Strike Group 3, Destroyer Squadron 21, and CVW-9.
• The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG 121) serves as the integrated air-and-missile defense commander. She returned home last week and, over 300 days, conducted 45 replenishments-at-sea, sailed over 85,000 nautical miles, safely transferred over 7,544,486 gallons of F-76 fuel and 175,288 gallons of JP-5 fuel, and completed 1,094 hours of flight quarters.
• DESRON 21’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Spruance (DDG 111) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG 112), which are underway in the U.S. 7th Fleet and U.S. 5th Fleet areas of operations, supporting global maritime security operations.

Lincoln is scheduled to enter a dry dock at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for several months of post-deployment maintenance and a dry dock overhaul, including deep corrosion removal, flight deck resurfacing, and in-depth catapult maintenance.

Lincoln’s place was taken by sister USS George Washington.

For reference, the Essex-class fleet carrier USS Hornet (CV-12) holds the all-time at-sea record, with 495 days deployed in the tail end of WWII (February 29, 1944, to July 7, 1945), taking part in major operations including the Battle of the Philippine Sea, Leyte Gulf, Iwo Jima, Okinawa, and strikes against Japanese forces and ships, including the Yamato.