The first ship in Carrier Strike Group 3 returned to Hawaii on Monday after a 301-day deployment marred by mental health concerns and declining morale aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, the strike group’s flagship.
The destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. left Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on Dec. 1, spending over 106 days without a scheduled port call as it operated in the South China Sea in January before sailing to the Arabian Sea in support of U.S. Navy operations during Operation Epic Fury.
“This deployment challenged us in many ways and required every sailor to perform at their very best,” said Capt. Casey Mahon, commanding officer of the Frank E. Petersen Jr. “Despite the pressures and complexities of our missions, the crew rose to the occasion every time, ensuring the safety, security, and strategic interests of our nation. Most importantly, the crew never gave up on the ship and never gave up on their shipmates.”
Under Mahon, the Integrated Air and Missile Defense commander for the Abraham Lincoln strike group, the Frank E. Petersen Jr., provided ballistic missile defense for ships transiting in the contested waters of the Strait of Hormuz.
During its 10-month-long deployment, Frank E. Petersen Jr.’s crew conducted 45 replenishments-at-sea, sailed over 85,000 nautical miles and completed 1,094 hours of flight quarters, according to a Navy release.
The increasingly long deployments of U.S. vessels — the USS Gerald R. Ford returned to its home port in May 2026 after a record 327-day deployment — have raised growing concerns regarding the demand of prolonged combat deployments.
Public concern over deteriorating mental health aboard the Abraham Lincoln and within the carrier group grew to a crescendo in mid-August, when Military Times reported that two sailors attempted to jump overboard the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao confirmed on Sept. 22 that eight sailors aboard ships from the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group attempted suicide but also said that no sailor had died from the attempts.
During an August town hall meeting in San Diego, California, military family members expressed grave concerns to defense officials about the mental health of their loved ones aboard the Lincoln. They flagged food shortages, depleting sailor morale and worry over self-harm, as the ship approached nine months without a scheduled port call. The flagship ultimately went 264 days without a port call. The Abraham Lincoln is scheduled to return to its home port of San Diego.
According to Mahon, there were no reports of suicidal ideation among the Frank E. Petersen Jr.’s crew during its deployment.
“We certainly had some folks who maybe needed a bit more care than others, and we made sure they got that care,” he told Stars and Stripes on Monday.
“I think you can’t do a 10-month deployment like that without really having to really dive deep into the resiliency factor,” he added.
Riley Ceder contributed to this report.
