U.S. Navy leaders promised Tuesday to apply “lessons learned” from the USS Abraham Lincoln’s record-setting deployment in preparing another aircraft carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, for its assignment in the Middle East next month.

In a video posted to social media, Adm. Daryl Caudle, chief of naval operations, thanked the sailors of the USS Lincoln, which was deployed from the beginning of the war with Iran in February and completed almost six straight months of combat operation, including imposing the naval blockade of Iranian ports along the Strait of Hormuz, shooting down Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps drones and launching airstrikes into Iran.

But the long deployment also included a lack of food and hygiene products in the ship’s store after the Navy’s Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain were struck by Iranian missiles. That forced the Navy to pivot its supply hub to Diego Garcia, a small island in the Indian Ocean that is 2,200 miles from the Gulf of Oman, where the USS Lincoln and the USS Gerald R. Ford were positioned. 

“You answered the call, you got the job done and just as importantly, the lessons you’re bringing home are helping us better prepare the next team to deploy,” the service’s top enlisted member, Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John Perryman, said in the same video.

Caudle, the Navy’s highest ranking officer, said applying those lessons “starts with logistics. Roosevelt is maximizing its load out of food, retail products and hygiene items before getting underway.”

That’s in direct recognition of the chances that the Roosevelt, too, may find itself at sea for extended stretches, Perryman said.

“The crew is converting available spaces into additional storage, building the ability to remain self sufficient for longer periods, especially when resupply may be difficult,” Perryman said.

Previously, Caudle had told the Navy in a virtual town hall that sailors should expect longer deployments. He also separately told reporters last month that the Navy is looking into ways of making safe port calls for Middle East deployments in places farther away from striking distance of Iran, like Kenya or India.

The distance of those port calls from the Strait of Hormuz would likely make stopping less frequent than every 30 to 45 days, which is standard for an aircraft carrier deployment.

The Lincoln hit a modern-day record for most continuous days at sea without a port call. The carrier left San Diego on Nov. 21 and only stopped twice briefly in Guam in December and Oman in July. Both times, the crew of the 5,000 sailors and Marines was not allowed to go beyond the dock.

Many service members reported working 12- to 14-hour days with no days off, raising concerns of physical exhaustion and deteriorating mental health and morale. 

“We’re also focused on quality of life,” Caudle said. “That means new entertainment equipment on the mess decks, more durable fitness equipment, spare cardio machines ready for replacement and even holiday materials purchased ahead of time.”

Many families of service members aboard the USS Lincoln called the constant extension of the deployment with no clear end extremely challenging, especially because most of the crew was scheduled to move to Bremerton, Washington, over the summer. The unclear timeline and the lack of communication caused many families to voice their anger at Navy leadership at back-to-back virtual and in-person town halls in early August.

“We’re applying lessons learned to family readiness, working with the ship’s ombudsman and family readiness groups to provide families with reliable consistent communication throughout the deployment. That’s what a learning Navy looks like,” Caudle said. 

The USS Lincoln left Sunday from its first liberty port call in Thailand, where sailors and Marines got four days off the ship for rest and relaxation. The carrier is on its way back to San Diego.

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