US Navy aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) arrived in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, on April 15, for its first port visit in seven years.
The ship completed completed a mid-life overhaul in 2017 and has been working up for this deployment ever since.
The visit marks the first liberty port call for Abraham Lincoln sailors since departing Norfolk, April 1, and the first visit of a US Navy aircraft carrier in Palma de Mallorca since the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman (CVN 75) arrived in 2014.
“I am looking forward to pulling into Palma because this is the first port for Abraham Lincoln in about seven years,” said Capt. Putnam H. Browne, commanding officer of Abraham Lincoln. “It will be a nice time for all Sailors, especially those who have never pulled into port before. I am excited to experience Palma with them and engage with our Spanish navy partners. We’re so grateful to the city for hosting us here.”
Abraham Lincoln is deployed as part of an ongoing rotation of forward-deployed forces in support of maritime security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th, U.S. 6th and U.S. 7th Fleet areas of operation. With Abraham Lincoln as the flagship, deployed strike group assets include staffs, ships and aircraft of Carrier Strike Group 12, Destroyer Squadron 2, Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Leyte Gulf (CG 55) and Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 7; as well as Alvaro de Bazan-class frigate ESPS Méndez Núñez (F 104).
Abraham Lincoln departed its homeport earlier this month to support maritime security operations along with other coalition maritime forces and is scheduled to travel around the world to execute a homeport shift from Norfolk to San Diego.