The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in Thailand on Wednesday, its first port call in more than eight months, ending a marathon stint at sea in the Middle East that raised concerns about the welfare of its crew.
The 100,000-ton ship departed San Diego last November, and when it returns to Southern California later this year it will have completed one of the longest deployments in US Navy history.
The Lincoln has set a modern-day record for consecutive days at sea during combat and blockade duty in the war with Iran, according to US Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
The extended deployment has led to morale problems amid supply shortages, and at least one possible suicide attempt among its crew of 5,000, CNN has reported.
Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut and a member of the Armed Services Committee, wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the acting secretary of the Navy last month to express “serious concern” about the increasing length of deployments and demand answers about living conditions aboard the carrier.
“There have been widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns,” aboard the ship, he said in the letter, as well as “disruptions in the mail system, which have caused many care packages in route to the ship to be lost in transit for months.”
Hegseth later said that conditions on the Lincoln had been “completely misrepresented” though he did not specify his concerns with the reporting.
US President Donald Trump, when asked about the lengthy deployment, dismissed concerns, saying it was “not nearly long enough.”
But soon after the reported problems aboard the carrier went public, the Pentagon announced the Japan-based carrier USS George Washington was being dispatched to the Middle East to replace the Lincoln.
It has since taken up station there along with the USS George H.W. Bush, keeping a two-carrier presence for the US Navy as hostilities continue with Iran.
Critics said the departure of the George Washington from the east Asia area shone a light on capacity problems in the Navy, leaving the service without one of its largest warships to show support for allies and deterrence to adversaries like China and North Korea.
Speaking to reporters in Virginia last week, US Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryle Caudle acknowledged the stress extended deployments have placed on the Navy, its sailors and their families.
He said the service would try to put more certainty into deployment times, but combat demands can make that difficult.
“I would prefer, you know, seven-month deployments. I typically am not a big fan of extensions, and I push back hard on that. But the enemy gets a vote,” USNI News quoted Caudle as saying.
In calling in a port near Pattaya, Thailand, the Lincoln is coming to a rest-and-relaxation spot made famous during the Vietnam War as a raucous destination for US servicemembers to unwind from the pressures of war.
Pattaya sits less than an hour’s drive north of U-Tapao, where an airbase hosted dozens of US B-52 bombers during the Vietnam War. The base enabled the eight-engine bombers to reach North Vietnam in three to four hours, providing substantial time and fuel savings from the other main launch point for B-52s, Andersen Air Force Base on Guam in the Pacific.
At the height of the war, some 50,000 Americans were stationed at U-Tapao and other bases in Thailand.
As a US treaty ally, Thailand provided a logical place where troops fighting in Vietnam could rest. According to a 2017 report from the Institute of Labor Economics, 11% to 16% of all visitors to Thailand in 1966-67 were US servicemembers on leave from Vietnam.
Around the US bases and at beach spots like Pattaya, the sex trade grew, in some ways facilitated by US and Thai authorities, according to the institute.
In 1966, Thailand passed the Service Establishment Act, which “permitted entertainment establishments throughout the country to employ women who would offer ‘special services,’” the report says.
“Massage parlors, bars and teahouses where clients could request these services were legalized under a license .”
A year later Thailand and the US set the “Rest & Recreation Treaty, which formalized the agreement of Thai authorities to authorize entertainment services for U.S. servicemen,” the report says.
The treaty arrangement is widely regarded as the beginning of the sex tourism industry in Thailand.
Though the US presence in Thailand quickly wound down after the Vietnam War ended in 1975, the sex industry survived, and places like Walking Street in Pattaya are busy today with massage parlors, bars and clubs. Prostitution on the street or in brothels is illegal, though activists have long argued it unfairly criminalizes vulnerable sex workers.
Even before the Lincoln’s arrival, Thai authorities were publicizing a clamp down on alleged sex workers operating outside of licensed establishments.
According to local news reports, police in Pattaya over the weekend apprehended at least 25 individuals suspected of soliciting for prostitution, an offense punishable by fines.
Local authorities say rules have been set by US authorities barring personnel from visiting cannabis dispensaries and taking part in watersports including jet skiing and parasailing.
Pattaya City Mayor Poramet Ngampichet said he hopes the Lincoln’s port call will boost the local economy.
“For Pattaya to be seen as an important vacation spot is something that we have aimed for,” Poramet said, according to the Associated Press. “We welcome more visits of the troops in the future, whether for a drill or a vacation, before they go back to the US.”
