USS Abraham Lincoln books a Thailand port call after more than 200 days at sea

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln is due in Thailand from 2 to 6 September, Thai defence spokesman Rear Adm. Surasant Kongsiri said this week. The Royal Thai Navy said three ships from a U.S. carrier strike group will make a short stop on the eastern seaboard so the crews can rest and take on stores. There will be no exercises with Thai forces.

Reports in Bangkok put the berth at Laem Chabang. Pattaya's mayor, Poramet Ngampichet, estimated local spending of 5 million to 15 million baht if the ship's roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines are allowed ashore. The U.S. Navy declined to discuss future movements.

Lincoln left San Diego on 21 November 2025, called at Guam on 12 December, worked the South China Sea, then was sent to the Middle East before the Iran war opened on 28 February. Democratic lawmakers and family groups have described a modern-day record for consecutive days at sea, more than 200, and have raised mental-health concerns. CENTCOM answered that the strike group remained "resilient" after more than 260 days at sea, 10,000 flights and 1.5 million pounds of ordnance.

Why this stop is the first in months

Usual Gulf ports, including Bahrain, have sat inside the range of Iranian missiles and drones. Lincoln left the Arabian Sea after USS George Washington arrived to take the station. The ship is now in the 7th Fleet area on the way home to San Diego.

Port calls are how a carrier crew eats something other than the mess deck, sees a doctor who is not the ship's, and spends money in a town that is not a flight deck. Thailand has hosted that traffic for decades. This visit is being sold in Bangkok as rest. That is also the only description Washington has allowed.