USS Abraham Lincoln – The Fifth Nimitz-class Aircraft Carrier - In May 2023, a milestone in U.S. naval history occurred as Captain Amy Bauernschmidt was relieved by Captain Pete Riebe as commanding officer, USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), during a change of command ceremony held on the flight deck. Bauernschmidt successfully completed her command tour, becoming the first woman to command an aircraft carrier.

"Lincoln's strength is the Sailors," Bauernschmidt said addressing the crew during the ceremony. "What we all do matters and our hard work makes the difference."

During her 21 months of command, the Sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln completed a seven-month deployment to the U.S. 7th and 3rd Fleet Area of Operations, culminating in the Lincoln serving as the flagship for the largest Rim of the Pacific Exercise to date with 32 coalition partners, the U.S. Navy announced.

"There remain complicated challenges around the globe," said Bauernschmidt. "We must remain steadfast in doing the right thing because it is the right thing to do."

During Bauernschmidt's tenure, the fifth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier and second United States Navy ship to be named after former President Abraham Lincoln hosted the first Marine Corps F-35C squadron integration into the Air Wing of the Future, while the flight deck served as the court for the NCAA Armed Forces Classic basketball game in San Diego on Veterans Day 2022.

USS Abraham Lincoln Aircraft Carrier: Nearly Four Decades in Service

The keel of USS Abraham Lincoln, or CVN-72, was laid on November 3, 1984, at Newport News, Virginia, and the nuclear-powered carrier was launched in 1988. USS Abraham Lincoln was delivered to the U.S. Navy in 1989, and she is similar in design to the other Nimitz-class carriers – and is 1,092 feet in length, has a beam of 252 feet, and a draught of 41 feet.

The warship displaces 97,000 tons while her flight deck, which is approximately 4.5 acres, is serviced by four hanger elevators. The flattop is also equipped with four steam catapults and can carry up to ninety fixed-wing and rotary aircraft. As a floating airbase, the carrier is home to 5,680 sailors and Marines, including a crew of 3,200 as well as 2,480 serving in the airwing. 

As those personnel will spend months at sea, CVN-72 actually boasts many amenities found in an American city, including a post office (with its own ZIP code), TV and radio stations, newspaper, fire department, library, hospital, general store, and of course barbershops.

Over the past three decades, the carrier carried out multiple humanitarian missions in the Persian Gulf and Pacific region and took part in multiple combat operations.

It was just two years after she entered service that USS Abraham Lincoln was ordered on her first Western Pacific deployment in response to Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm in 1991. However, while en route to the Indian Ocean, the warship was diverted to support evacuation operations following the eruption of Mount Pinatubo on Luzon Island, Republic of the Philippines, and led the efforts of Operation Fiery Vigil, the largest peacetime evacuation of active-duty military personnel and family members in history. The carrier subsequently led a 23-ship flotilla that successfully sea-lifted 20,000 evacuees to safety.

CVN-72 continued regular deployments throughout the 1990s and took part in Operations Southern Watch and Vigilant Sentinel in the late 1990s. The carrier was ordered back to the Persian Gulf in 2003 to take part in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Mid-life Refueling – And Readied for the F-35

Beginning in 2013, the warship underwent her mid-life refueling and complex overhaul, during which more than 2.5 million man-hours of work were conducted on the carrier. 

The nuclear-powered carrier only rejoined the fleet in May 2017. With the completion of its forty-nine-and-a-half-month overhaul, Abraham Lincoln also became the first carrier in the U.S. Navy's fleet able to operate Lockheed Martin F-35C Joint Strike Fighters from its decks.

Though she is the fifth Nimitz-class carrier, she was the first carrier able to not only embark the F-35, while the USS Abraham Lincoln also became the first Pacific Fleet carrier to integrate female aviators into the crew after the Combat Exclusion Laws were lifted in April 1993.

Major Milestone

Captain Amy Bauernschmidt took command of CVN-72 in August 2021 and became just one of the 11 commanders of aircraft carriers in the U.S. Navy, and the first-ever woman to rise to the role.

What is also notable is that was only in November of 1993 – six months before Bauernschmidt's graduation from that Naval Academy – that Congress passed the legislation allowing women to serve on U.S. Navy combatant ships. Bauernschmidt was previously the first woman to serve as an executive officer (XO) on board a carrier – a position she also held on the Abraham Lincoln from September 2016 to January 2019.

USS Abraham Lincoln: Undergoing Sea Trials

It was also in October that USS Abraham Lincoln returned to San Diego after completing 10 days of sea trials and carrier qualifications in advance of her next deployment.

"I'm incredibly proud of the work the crew of the Lincoln put in to make this a successful underway. We spent the last nine months pier side – focused on maintenance, and we seamlessly shifted that focus to operational proficiency and flight operations," said Capt. Riebe. "I love watching this team come together to get this mighty ship underway to execute the mission and I'm looking forward to continue to raise the bar of proficiency and professionalism."

Author Experience and Expertise

Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu.

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