Lincoln, Shoup return after Pacific deployment

The USS Abraham Lincoln is home.

The Everett-based aircraft carrier and the destroyer USS Shoup are back in port at Naval Station Everett today after a nearly six-month deployment in the western Pacific Ocean, where they conducted numerous exercises and hosted dignitaries.

Sailors clad in white lined the carrier and were piling off by 10:15 a.m. to greet family and friends waving from the pier.

Deployed from Everett on Feb. 27 with no idea of what lay before them, the Lincoln’s crew of 3,300 and the Shoup’s 320 come back with stories of pomp and practice.

Along with hosting dignitaries and holding ceremonies, crew members were kept busy with naval exercises.

Most notable was an exercise dubbed Valiant Shield – the largest war game held in Pacific waters in more than a decade.

The five-day exercise in June involved 30 ships, 280 aircraft, and 22,000 airmen, sailors, soldiers and Marines working together to improve joint combat skills. Along with the Lincoln, the carriers USS Ronald Reagan and USS Kitty Hawk participated.

International stops included Hong Kong, Laemb Chebang in Thailand, Singapore and Sasebo in Japan.

The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Shoup, which arrived about two hours before the Lincoln, celebrated its fourth birthday at sea.