Military


Abraham Lincoln Strike Group WESTPAC 08 Deployment
CVN-72 Abraham Lincoln
"Abe" / "Shall Not Perish"

USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) entered Dry Dock #6 at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility (PSNS & IMF), Bremerton, Wash., 08 September 2006 to begin a scheduled Docked Planned Incremental Availability (DPIA) period, which is expected to last through March 2007. Under sunny skies and warm weather, a small fleet of tugboats moved Lincoln from her mooring at Naval Base Kitsap and turned the 98,000-ton warship on its axis in Sinclair Inlet before lining the ship up with the flooded dry dock. Major projects planned included refurbishment of tanks, work on three of the four catapults, modernization of navigation systems, and updates to the ship’s Local Area Network (LAN). Lincoln is also slated to receive installation of the Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) system, which will improve the ship’s close range defensive capabilities. Some of the contractors involved in the project include Todd Shipyard, Space and Naval Warfare, Voyage Repair Team, and Carrier Air Force Support, among others.

As of September 2006 Lincoln was expected to leave dry dock in mid-December 2006, but the availability was scheduled to last through the middle of March 2007, when Lincoln would complete a short sea trial before returning to her homeport of Everett, Wash.

USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) wrapped up two weeks of training and certification with a scheduled port visit to Naval Air Station North Island 22-24 July 2007. Lincoln’s crew enjoyed two full days of liberty in the San Diego area while the ship took on personnel and equipment from Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 2 in preparation for the next phase of operations. Prior to the visit, Lincoln spent her first two weeks underway since completing sea trials and a nine-month Dry-dock Planned Incremental Availability at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Wash.

During the time underway, Lincoln completed carrier qualifications for the ship’s flight deck, including certification of its Precision Approach Landing System and Carrier Air Traffic Control, and performed carrier qualifications for four west coast Fleet Replacement Squadrons (FRS). Lincoln spent the first two weeks out to sea getting basic qualifications so that they could move on to the next phase of training. The Wing met all objectives and got good reviews from COMNAVAIR (Commander, Naval Air Forces) and AIRPAC (Air Forces Pacific). In all, they did 275 arrested landings for flight deck certification and another 652 for FRS carrier qualification.

Lincoln also hosted a ship’s Materials Maintenance Management assessment assist team from Air Forces Pacific, performed two fueling at sea evolutions with USNS Henry J. Kaiser (T-AO 187), and conducted a number of shipwide training evolutions including man overboard drills and live-fire exercises.

Lincoln departed NAS North Island 24 July 2007 to begin a Tailored Ship’s Training Availability (TSTA). TSTA is designed to prepare the ship and crew for full integration into Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 9. The primary objective of TSTA is to ensure that Lincoln can perform all self-sustained combat missions within the ship. It is also the first chance to integrate with the air wing. Once TSTA completed, Lincoln "graduated" and joined the strike group. For Lincoln's crew, TSTA meant a busy few weeks as the ship’s operational tempo ramped up to ensure that they are ready for the challenges of the next deployment. There were flight operations pretty much every day, a lot of general quarters drills to ensure that the crew was ready and able to fight the ship in any situation, and a few underway replenishments. The other major component was the air defense qualifications, including Close-In Weapons System shoots and a NATO Sea Sparrow shoot. The three-phase TSTA led up to a Final Evaluation Problem, in which the entire ship’s performance over a two-day event was graded by Afloat Training Group and Air Forces Pacific before the ship was certified by CSG 9.

Chronology

    08 Sep 2006 - Entered drydock
    29 Aug 2006 - Begins 6 month PIA