Tag Archives: USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72)

Can we just acknowledge the tonnage deployed on Epic Fury?

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The Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush (CVN 77) sails in the Atlantic Ocean, April 12, 2026. The George H. W. Bush Carrier Strike Group, comprised of nearly 5,000 Sailors, provides combatant commanders and America’s civilian leaders with increased capacity to underpin American security and economic prosperity, deter adversaries, and project power on a global scale through sustained operations at sea. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class John R. Farren)

Right now, as noted by open sources (Centcom releases, USNI’s Marine Tracker, etc), we have three carrier strike groups– built around USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), and George H.W. Bush (CVN 77)— as well as two ARGs (USS Boxer and Tripoli), either in the region or steaming there. Tripoli is also deployed with USS New Orleans (LPD-18) and Rushmore (LSD-47) with the 31st MEU embarked, while Boxer is sailing with USS Comstock (LSD-45) and Portland (LPD-27) as well as the 11th MEU.

Centcom confirms this is the first time they have had three CVNs in their area of operation since 2003, and greater than 20,000 assorted Bluejackets and Marines are afloat.

They have no less than 18 Burkes supporting:

  • USS Mitscher (DDG-57)
  • USS Gonzalez (DDG-66)
  • USS Milius (DDG-69)
  • USS Ross (DDG-71) (Bush CSG)
  • USS Mahan (DDG-72) (Ford CSG)
  • USS Donald Cook (DDG-75) (Bush CSG)
  • USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG-81) (Ford CSG, Air Defense Commander)
  • USS Bulkeley (DDG-84)
  • USS Mason (DDG-87) (Bush CSG, Air Defense Commander)
  • USS Pickney (DDG-91)
  • USS Bainbridge (DDG-96) (Ford CSG)
  • USS Spruance (DDG-111) (Lincoln CSG)
  • USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112)
  • USS John Finn (DDG-113)
  • USS Rafael Peralta (DDG-115)
  • USS Thomas Hudner (DDG-116) (Ford CSG)
  • USS Delbert D. Black (DDG-119)
  • USS Frank E. Petersen (DDG-121) (Lincoln CSG, Air Defense Commander)

For those keeping count, that is roughly 300K tons of carriers, 250K tons of ‘Phibs, and 165k tons of destroyers, with the Silent Service’s SSNs and SSGNs not publicized and keeping very silent indeed, and the logistics tail, which never gets any love except from Sal. 

So, pushing just shy of a million tons, with three carriers, 18 tin cans, six Gators, and AO/AOE/SS undetailed. Truth be told, that is one serious naval force.

Sadly, there are no Ticos forward deployed to Centcom. Looks like the old girls are sitting this one out, and all the CSGs are using upgraded SM-3 carrying DDGs for the group’s Air Defense Commander roles.

Combat air squadrons embarked include a homogenous 11 F/A-18E/F units (VFA-14, VFA-31, VFA-37, VFA-41, VFA-83, VFA-87, VFA-103, VFA-105, VFA-131, VFA-151, and VFA-213), three of EA-18Gs (VAQ-130, VAQ-133, and VAQ-142) and a single F-35C squadron– the Black Knights of VMFA-314.

Ironically, this puts the Marines, which by trope are given the obsolete stuff the Navy doesn’t want any longer, with the most advanced fighter in squadron service during Epic Fury– leaving the Navy to push 14 assorted squadrons of Rhino! Of further note, there are no F-18C/D models deployed, with the 5-6 legacy squadrons that use these are all stateside Marine dirt-dets, as the last carrier deployment for those little birds was with VMFA-323 in 2021 on Nimitz.

Still, somewhere around 400 embarked aircraft when all the MH-60s aboard the DDGs and the MEU’s air units are counted.

In other sad news, the Navy’s minesweeping solution, the mine module equipped LCSs (USS Canberra, Santa Barbara, and Tulsa) were all pulled out of Bahrain in March and have been notably MIA while two aging Avenger-class sweepers based in Sasebo, USS Chief (MCM-14) and Pioneer (MCM-9), are “speeding” towards the Hormuz, a short 6,600nm jaunt away, a sail of 20 days at their typical 14 knot cruising speed. Of course, that doesn’t include stops to refuel and flirt with monkeys.

What’s left for the rest of the world?

What does this leave for other contingencies?

A MH-60S Sea Hawk, attached to the “Indians” of Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 6, transports stores to Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) during a vertical replenishment-at-sea in the Pacific Ocean, April 23, 2026. Nimitz is deployed as part of Southern Seas 2026, which seeks to enhance capability, improve interoperability, and strengthen maritime partnerships with countries throughout the region through joint, multinational, and interagency exchanges and cooperation. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Johnathan McCune)

Well, of the country’s CVNs, Nimitz is in her slow-motion final cruise around Latin America to begin her deactivation, Stennis is in RCOH (where she has been for five years) and isn’t expected back in the fleet until at least October 2026, Reagan is in DPIA until at least August of 2026, Harry S. Truman (which the Navy wanted to decommission in 2019!) is set to begin her much needed RCOH in June, and JFK won’t commission until the summer of 2027 (a date likely to be pushed back after the lessons learned during Ford’s now epic deployment and saga of underway mechanical casualties).

This leaves on the East Coast the 49-year-old Ike— which is just wrapping up sea trials after a yard stint that was completed early (yes, Virginia, it is possible) and is set to retire in 2028 but probably won’t (see Ford/JFK)– Vinson and Teddy R on the West Coast, and George Washington forward deployed to Japan from where the Navy will keep her as a hedge against China/NorK.

Only four CVNs (USS Carl Vinson, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, and Theodore Roosevelt) can handle the F-35C as they have cooled jet blast deflectors and a hangar bay that is reconfigured to support their maintenance (i.e., ODIN data centers).

Further, speaking to big-deck LHD/LHAs, the Navy only owns nine after the Bon Homme Richard fire, and two are deployed to Epic Fury as noted above. Iwo Jima is assigned to operations off Venezuela right now (delaying a planned $200 million update to operate F-35s), and two others, Essex and Kearsarge, are working up on the East and West coasts, respectively. Of the other four, two are in fairly poor material shape, with Bataan currently receiving heavy maintenance after a fire last December during her two-year-long modernization, and America is undergoing a DSRA at NASSCO until at least July 2027.

Meanwhile, only five big deck ‘phibs (USS Wasp, Essex, America, Makin Island, and Boxer) have had their decks shielded to operate short take off/vertically landing F-35Bs.

The new construction big deck phibs, the future USS Bougainville (LHA-8), Fallujah (LHA-9), and Helmand Province (LHA-10) have had their delivery dates pushed back to July 2027, July 2031, and September 2034, respectively.

Afloat in the Pascagoula River proper is the future USS Bougainville (LHA-8), the first Flight I America-class Lightning carrier, circa March 2026. She still has another 15 months of fitting out and trials to come. Chris Eger

For reference, Bougainville was laid down in March 2019, which would give her an eight-year construction cycle. The first steel on Helmand Province hasn’t even been cut yet, so even 2034 may be optimistic (although Wasp is set to retire that year). Even if Helmand Province arrives in the fleet in 2034 as planned, class leader America (LHA-6) will be 20 years in service then, while the Wasp-class LHDs will be edging to age 40, which is never a good look on a gator (the longest serving Tarawa class, the very high-mileage Peleliu, only spent 34 years and five weeks in commission).

And the beat goes on…

VS22 Looking Flat

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It is just a little bit over 80 years after the Plum/Pensacola/Republic Convoy was ordered to make for Australia instead of reinforcing the Philippines– a good call because the 2,000 mobilized National Guardsmen and two warships (the cruiser USS Pensacola and gunboat USS Niagra) of Task Group 15.5 would have had little-to-no effect on the disastrous Dec. 1941-May 42 Fall of the Philippines, only adding to the number of 78,000 surrendered American and Allied troops.

However, in a reboot of naval power on display, Valiant Shield 2022 was just held in the Philippine Sea and the ninth biennial U.S.-only exercise was a decent show of strength, at least in terms of carrier power.

VS22 this year included both two carrier strike groups —USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) with Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 5 embarked, and USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) with CVW 9 embarked– along with USS Tripoli (LHA-7), the latter of which recently showed off a 16-strong F-35B loadout as part of the “Lightning Carrier” concept.

Roll that beautiful bean footage:

How about those stills: 

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Gray Gibson)

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Gray Gibson)

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Gray Gibson)

(U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Gray Gibson)

On the downside, I would love to see two or three times that amount of escorts around three flattops, as the carriers are only trailed by two elderly Ticos (which are soon to be retired)– USS Mobile Bay (CG 53) and USS Antietam (CG 54)— and three Burkes: USS Benfold (DDG 65), USS Spruance (DDG 111), and the recently-rebuilt USS Fitzgerald (DDG 62).

It really is sad that the vast squadrons of CGNs, CG-converted DLGs, DDG-2s, Spru-Cans, Knoxes, and FFG-7s were slaughtered in the 1990s and early 2000s without replacement other than the Navy continuing to order $1.8-Billion-per-hull Burkes.

Appropriately, the pinnacle event of VS22 was the sinking exercise (SINKEX) on the decommissioned FFG-7, ex-USS Vandegrift (FFG 48).

Fab Flattop Five! 365K tons of Good Times

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What do you get when you take two 105,000-ton supercarriers, add two chunky 42,000-ton Goula-built LHD/LHAs, and a 20,000-ton Japanese “helicopter destroyer” along with their five principal surface warfare escorts in one big photo-ex? 

This: 

PHILIPPINE SEA (Jan. 22, 2022) Aircraft assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2 and CVW 9 fly over the Philippine Sea, Jan. 22, 2022. Operating as part of U.S. Pacific Fleet, units assigned to the Carl Vinson and Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Groups, Essex and America Amphibious Ready Groups, and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force are conducting training to preserve and protect a free and open Indo-Pacific region. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Haydn N. Smith)

PHILIPPINE SEA (Jan. 22, 2022) Aircraft assigned to Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2, CVW 9, and the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) fly over the Philippine Sea as Nimitz-class aircraft carriers USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) and USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), JMSDF Hyuga-class helicopter destroyer JS Hyuga (DDH 181), America-class amphibious assault ship USS America (LHA 6), Wasp-class landing helicopter dock USS Essex (LHD 2), Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Spruance (DDG 111), USS Chafe (DDG 90), and USS Gridley (DDG 101) and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers USS Mobile Bay (CG 53) and USS Lake Champlain (CG 57) transit the Philippine Sea Jan. 22, 2022.

“Operating as part of U.S. Pacific Fleet, units assigned to Carl Vinson and Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Groups, America and Essex Amphibious Ready Groups alongside Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, are conducting training to preserve and protect a free and open Indo-Pacific region.”

(U.S. Navy video)

Santa’s keeping that list

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With “the Season” now underway, this seemed relevant.

191224-N-NF912-1022

Official caption:

SOUTH CHINA SEA (Dec. 24, 2019) A Sailor dressed as Santa Claus directs the launch of an F/A-18E Super Hornet attached to the Pukin’ Dogs of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 143 on the flight deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). The Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of security and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. With Abraham Lincoln as the flagship, deployed strike group assets include staffs and aircraft of Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 12, Destroyer Squadron (DESRON) 2 and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7. U.S. Navy photos by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Jeremiah Bartelt (Released)