USS Abraham Lincoln crew arrives in Pattaya after 260-plus days at sea

Buses carrying sailors from the USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in Pattaya, Thailand, on Thursday as part of a scheduled port call following a deployment that kept the carrier at sea for more than 260 days. The ship, which supported U.S. operations in the Middle East, has been deployed for a total of 286 days, according to the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok, and is expected to leave Thailand later this weekend on its return to the United States.

Service members disembarked at the Hard Rock Hotel, the designated pickup point, where local vendors and travel agents gathered to sell souvenirs. Some sailors waved them away while waiting for transport. The strike group also includes the destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr., docked at Sriracha port, and the cruiser USS Robert Smalls, at Map Ta Phut.

"There are many vendors around. It’s really up to how lucky each of us are," said A-ngoon Sombat, a local seller who set up a stall near the hotel.

Crew morale appeared high, according to a 20-year-old navigator on the Petersen who said the arrival in Thailand marked the end of a challenging first deployment. He declined to comment on reports of conditions aboard the Lincoln.

A small crowd gathered near Laem Chabang port to view the carrier, which measures roughly the length of three American football fields. American resident Keith Eldridge, who traveled from a nearby province, described the ship as an "engineering marvel" and praised its size and technology.

"When you get to look at something so big, wrapped up with so much technology, the radars, the sonars, the weapon systems, the propulsion systems, it is truly amazing that we can build it, float it, and we fight from it," Eldridge said.

Capt. Dan Keeler, commanding officer of the Lincoln, confirmed the vessel would head home soon, though additional supply stops may be made, and declined to give a specific return date.