USS George Washington Headed to Middle East to Relieve USS Abraham Lincoln After Record 250+ Days Deployed

A US official confirmed the USS George Washington (CVN-73) carrier strike group, which finished a port visit in Vietnam on Aug 5, is headed to the Middle East to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), in a swap the official said had been previously planned. Lincoln has been deployed more than 250 days since leaving San Diego last November and has gone roughly 200 consecutive days without a port call — a modern-day record for a US carrier — fueling Democratic lawmaker demands for answers about crew welfare after a sailor went overboard earlier in August. Trump separately said Lincoln's deployment was 'not nearly long enough.'