US Navy aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln got underway from Norfolk to start a deployment in which it will sail around the world before arriving at its new homeport in San Diego.
The carrier will shift homeports after completing a mid-life overhaul at the Huntington Ingalls Industries’ Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
Next in line for the four-year overhaul is USS John C. Stennis (CVN 74), which entered service in 1995.
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) will be joined by guided-missile destroyers USS Bainbridge (DDG 96), USS Mason (DDG 87), and USS Nitze (DDG 94), and the guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) for operations in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Indian Ocean, the South China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
Spanish frigate ESPS Mendez Nunez (F 104) , Navantia’s contender for the US Navy’s FFG(X) acquisition program, will also accompany the group during the operations.