While the USS Abraham Lincoln makes its way home to San Diego after a grueling nine-month deployment, 600 sailors aboard two guided-missile destroyers that were deployed to protect the aircraft carrier are staying behind and will remain deployed at sea.
Initially, the USS Spruance, USS Michael Murphy and USS Frank E. Petersen Jr., which made up the USS Lincoln carrier strike group, had been told their mission was to escort and protect the carrier, according to a sailor aboard one of the destroyers who was granted anonymity by MS NOW because they were not authorized to discuss operations publicly.
But now, the USS Lincoln is headed home without two of those destroyers.
The USS Murphy and USS Spruance have not yet been ordered to return to their home ports of Hawaii and San Diego, respectively, according to family members and a friend who have loved ones on the destroyers.
The USS Petersen is on its way to its home port in Hawaii, according to a family member of a sailor aboard the destroyer.
The three destroyers, and the roughly 1,000 sailors across all three ships, have been deployed with the USS Lincoln since late 2025, according to the U.S. Naval Institute, or USNI. The typical deployment length for a destroyer is seven months, meaning these destroyers have surpassed the normal length at sea.
It is not clear why only one of the destroyers in the strike group is returning home and not the other two.
Asked about the two destroyers staying at sea, a spokesperson for the 7th Fleet said, “The composition of the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group continually changes based on mission requirements.”
“It is not uncommon for carrier strike groups to disaggregate on deployment,” a U.S. official told MS NOW.
Family members with loved ones aboard the two destroyers that remain deployed — who were granted anonymity to address a sensitive topic — expressed their frustration and disappointment over their loved ones being gone almost an entire year with no set return date.
“I feel absolutely heartbroken,” one family member said, adding that this deployment has caused severe mental and physical stress, and they are constantly worried about whether their loved one is safe. They also outlined the strain the extensions are causing both emotionally and financially on their plans.
“I am angry and I feel so defeated,” they said.
That same family member also said they were angry on behalf of their loved one, who has been on a destroyer by the USS Lincoln’s side since late last year.
“They experienced the same mental health strain, the same horrid conditions and the constant day and night working hours,” the family member said. “It’s so disrespectful that they are being forced to continue to stay out for months on end after the Lincoln had began its return home.”
One person who has a friend aboard another destroyer that is staying out at sea said that sailor echoed the same sentiment. The sailor told them they were “pissed off” and did not understand what made the USS Lincoln the “priority” to head home when both of the ships arrived in the region at the same time. The friend said they are “praying for them everyday,” and they hope the sailors make it back home soon for some “R&R.”
The sailors aboard the Spruance and Murphy have faced many of the same conditions reported aboard the Lincoln, including shortages of food and supplies, plumbing failures and low morale, according to three people in close touch with sailors on those destroyers.
At an in-person town hall on Aug. 6 in San Diego, acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao and other Navy leaders told families of service members aboard the Lincoln and the three destroyers that the strike group was a composite unit and that the Navy intended to bring the whole group home together, according to four people who attended.
That plan has changed.
The USS George Washington relieved the USS Lincoln last week following mounting pressure from lawmakers and the public. Before the Washington pivoted to support the operations in the Middle East, one of its destroyers, the USS Benfold, parted ways with the aircraft carrier after experiencing a power failure in the South China Sea at the end of July that left the destroyer without electricity for four days, USNI reported.
The Benfold lacked air conditioning, potable water, toilets and showers, and hot food, according to USNI. That destroyer was diverted to the Philippines for maintenance, and it remains unclear whether it will be reunited with the Washington in the future. It is also unclear whether the Benfold’s maintenance issues are the reason the Murphy and Spruance need to stay behind.
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