EVERETT, Wash., May 6 (UPI) -- The marathon voyage of the USS Abraham Lincoln ended Tuesday as the carrier and its crew of more than 2,600 sailors returned to the Pacific Northwest after nearly 10 months at sea.
Families began to crowd the pier at the Lincoln's homeport of Everett, Wash., shortly after dawn to await the arrival of the massive carrier that took part in the American military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq and last week played host to the President Bush.
"I've never seen anything like this," Petty Officer Casey Stockwell told the Seattle Times during the seemingly endless task of securing the Lincoln to the pier. "This is a lot bigger than I expected. It makes it all worthwhile, seeing all this appreciation."
After the ship was tied up and the gangplank lowered, nearly 90 new fathers were given the traditional Navy honor of being the first members of the crew to leave the ship and disappear into the crowd estimated at around 10,000.
Anita Brown slipped into town just in time to welcome her daughter, one of the sailors streaming off the ship in their dress white uniforms.
"She called me yesterday and didn't know I was coming," Brown said. "She thinks I'm still at home."
A similar homecoming took place on the other side of the Pacific Monday when the carrier USS Kitty Hawk steamed into its homeport in Japan. A Marine Corps helicopter squadron from Camp Pendleton was due home from Iraq at 2:30 a.m. PDT Wednesday.
The Lincoln and her escort ships set off for the western Pacific and Persian Gulf regions last July and arrived in the Gulf on Sept. 11, 2002 where her air wing flew missions in support of U.S. operations in Afghanistan.
The battle group had started its long trip home in January when it was ordered to turn around and return to the Gulf to join the U.S. military force lining up for the March invasion of Iraq. By the time the Lincoln was relieved last month by the USS Nimitz, the ship had carried out the longest deployment by a Navy carrier since the Vietnam War.
City officials in Everett planned to hold "Abraham Lincoln Day" later this month to welcome back the sailors who make up a sizable portion of the city's population and are major contributors to the local economy.
"I've been waiting for this ship to get in so that the Navy can provide me with a tenant for my rental home," Threasa Lynn Melton, whose house has been empty since the former tenants -- a naval officer and his family -- were ordered to Japan earlier this year, told United Press International. "The Navy is known for the high standards of their officers."
While media coverage of the war included the tribulations of families left behind, the Navy was also busy in recent weeks counseling both crew and spouses on how to adapt to the ship's return and the surrounding hubbub.
"Everyone wants a piece of you -- and everybody's tank out here is depleted," Lt. Rose Rice, the ship's psychologist, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. "One sailor found out his family's idea was to have a big reunion. His idea was to meet his significant other and order in Chinese food, sit and talk and drink a bottle of wine, and play a game of Scrabble."
