njamin Lambeth assessed, the Super Hornet displayed its operational prowess in resounding fashion. The new, sophisticated strike fighter averaged only 15 maintenance man-hours per flying hour, compared with 20 for the “legacy” Hornet and a whopping 60 for the legendary Tomcat. Across the board, the Super Hornets also achieved an impressive Fully-Mission Capable status of 90 percent, compared with 87 percent for the F/A-18C, and 78 for the Super Tomcats. It was obvious the “Super Bug” was the future of U.S. Naval Aviation and the real deal.
For 17 days, CVN-72/CVW-14 continued to pound targets throughout central and southern Iraq, as Coalition ground forces advanced towards Baghdad. They comprised the “day shift” alongside Kitty Hawk, while Constellation was tasked as the “night shift.” On Mar. 31, the already-formidable air wing became even more so, as two F/A-18Es and two of the newer two-seat F/A-18F Super Hornets embarked aboard Abe from USS Nimitz (CVN-68) which was just days away from arriving and relieving Lincoln in the Gulf. Meanwhile, the battle group’s surface combatants and submarines unleashed Tomahawk cruise missiles upon Iraq.
Finally, the end came. On Apr. 7, with Nimitz on-station, Abe and her battle group were relieved, and they set course for home. There was one more surprise left – on May 1, off the coast of San Diego, President George W. Bush landed aboard Lincoln on an S-3B Viking, which had been used as an aerial refueling tanker, surface attack and surveillance platform by the air wing. It was quite a moment – one that would ultimately prove controversial, with Abe unfortunately serving as the stage.
That same day, Bush delivered a speech announcing the “end of major combat operations.” Behind the president on the ship’s island, however, was a large banner displaying the words “Mission Accomplished.” The invasion had already generated controversy; as the war persisted, failed to deliver a decisive outcome and the insurgency intensified, Bush’s speech was seized upon by his political opponents as a dramatic publicity stunt and, derisively, came to be known as the “Mission Accomplished speech.”
Bush, however, never said “Mission Accomplished.” While critics parroted the narrative the Bush administration had effectively staged a stunt, the “Mission Accomplished” banner was actually requested by Abraham Lincoln. The long, eventful deployment they had just completed had apparently instilled, in the crew, a sense something extraordinary had indeed been accomplished and they wanted to commemorate the occasion, especially with the president visiting. Nevertheless, there was no doubt the banner created a perception problem Bush never recovered from nor could explain away.
None of it detracted from the accomplishments of Abraham Lincoln, CVW-14, and her battle group. By the time it arrived home to Everett, CVN-72 had completed a 290-day deployment, traveling a total distance of 102,816 nautical miles. The air wing spent 29,837 hours in the air and delivered a jaw-dropping 1.865 million pounds of ordnance. Though it didn’t break USS Coral Sea’s 329-day extravaganza from 1965, this is one accomplishment the crew was probably happy to fail to achieve.
Back in the present day, Abraham Lincoln will be eventually relieved and end its deployment, which will likely reach or exceed eight months. Grueling as it may be, the carrier, her air wing, and strike group are living up to an example it set over 17 years ago, when Abraham Lincoln and her team proved they were more than great – they were ultimate.
Photo credit: U.S. Navy