The Everett-based USS Abraham Lincoln has not been given orders to return home despite numerous news reports to the contrary, a Navy spokesman said Tuesday.
“At this point, there has been no official order for the Lincoln to leave” the Persian Gulf, said Lt. j.g. Bill Couch, spokesman for Navy Region Northwest.
“Basically, the ship is still deployed,” he said. “The current order that governs where they are is their deployment order. Unless they receive an order specifying otherwise, they’re still obligated to stay where they are.”
The aircraft carrier is in its ninth month of deployment, launching airstrikes in support of the war in Iraq.
“You can’t go anywhere until you’ve received orders to change your location,” Couch said. “You’re still responsible to support the military mission until you’re ordered otherwise.”
The Navy will make an official announcement when the Lincoln has the order to come home, Couch said.
“The Lincoln will be coming home. But at this point, there has been no date set for that. And we definitely look forward to having them come home,” Couch said.
A spate of media reports over the weekend left the impression that the Lincoln had been relieved by the aircraft carrier USS Nimitz and was heading home.
Couch said such talk was speculation, probably fueled by a comment made to an Associated Press reporter by an officer in the Navy’s Fifth Fleet.
The Fifth Fleet, with headquarters in Manama, Bahrain, will eventually issue the order releasing the Lincoln, once the Nimitz is ready to take over the Lincoln’s duties.
The USS Nimitz’s carrier strike group recently entered the Fifth Fleet area of responsibility, making it the fourth carrier strike group in the region deployed in support of the war in Iraq.
The San Diego-based Nimitz is accompanied by the Everett-based USS Rodney M. Davis, as well as the USS Chosin, USS Princeton, USS Benfold, USS Fitzgerald, USS Oldendorf and USS Bridge.
Rumors of the Lincoln’s departure have been prevalent on board the ship. Another factor may have been the departure of embedded reporters on the Lincoln. Reporters who were covering the Iraq war from the ship were told last week to get ready to leave the Lincoln.
The Lincoln, which has a total crew of roughly 8,000, left Everett in mid-July to help fight the war on terrorism. Its six-month deployment was extended for an undetermined amount of time on Jan. 1.
Reporter Brian Kelly: 425-339-3422 or kelly@heraldnet.com.
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