EVERETT — The USS Abraham Lincoln left one gigantic hole on Everett’s waterfront this week after it departed for a short trip to Southern California.
The Lincoln’s crew is scheduled to complete its first flight operations in a year and return to Everett’s waterfront Feb. 16, said Naval Station Everett spokeswoman Kristin Ching.
On this trip, crews plan to focus on flight deck certification, an important milestone for overseas deployment.
Certification is a two-day, two-night event that includes taxiing aircraft, launching helicopters and recovering aircraft. Crews will practice launching aircraft off the ship from a catapult.
There will likely be more short periods away from home in the coming months as the ship travels to and from Southern California for exercises with its air wing and other ships in its strike group.
The aircraft carrier has been close to home since April, when it arrived at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton.
Since that time, the ship has undergone some $350 million in maintenance and upgrades.
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