USS Abraham Lincoln Will Move 5,000 Sailors to Kitsap Before Maintenance

USS Abraham Lincoln will permanently leave San Diego for Naval Base Kitsap by the end of 2026, requiring approximately 5,000 sailors and their families to relocate before the aircraft carrier enters a planned maintenance period in Washington state. The Navy announced the homeport change on Oct. 19, but it has not disclosed when the shipyard work will begin.

The move comes quickly after the Nimitz-class carrier returned to Naval Air Station North Island on Oct. 8. Its 322-day deployment included 260 consecutive days without a port visit, described as a Navy record. The sequence leaves Lincoln’s community moving from post-deployment leave and equipment offloading into a permanent change of station spanning more than 1,000 miles.

A household move on a carrier’s schedule

A homeport change transfers much more than a ship. Sailors and their dependents must arrange housing, household shipments, school enrollment and employment transitions while the carrier prepares for its next maintenance cycle.

The Navy says Lincoln personnel are moving individually with permanent-change-of-station resources. Eligible sailors relocating dependents may receive up to four proceed days, while commanders may authorize as many as 10 days for house hunting, subject to operational requirements. Kitsap-area transition programs also include childcare support, housing assistance and a local resource fair.

Those benefits provide a framework, but the compressed sequence remains significant. The carrier’s deployment was extended twice, and family members had publicly raised concerns about its length, food and the absence of port calls. A letter from Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao released by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said eight sailors in the Lincoln Carrier Strike Group attempted suicide during the deployment; none died.

That recent history is relevant to the relocation burden, although the Navy’s current action concerns basing and maintenance. Lincoln and its strike group also received a Presidential Unit Citation for their combat service.

Kitsap connects the carrier to its shipyard

After the homeport transfer, the Navy plans to place Lincoln into what it calls a “long-planned maintenance availability” at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard & Intermediate Maintenance Facility. No start date, duration or detailed work package has been announced.

Basing Lincoln at Kitsap places the carrier beside the West Coast shipyard capable of dry-docking Nimitz-class carriers. That proximity connects the ship’s permanent base with the industrial workforce and infrastructure expected to support its coming maintenance, but it does not remove the scheduling constraints inside a shipyard that must handle other carrier and submarine work.

The facility itself is entering a major construction cycle. Puget Sound’s modernization includes a larger, deeper dry dock intended to accommodate Ford-class carriers, while the shipyard must continue maintaining aircraft carriers and submarines during the upgrades.

The Navy is also seeking contractors through a potential $15 billion contract structure for the new dry dock and associated waterfront infrastructure. The arrangement covers a five-year base period and one five-year option, with proposals due Dec. 1, 2026. That project is longer-term infrastructure work rather than Lincoln’s announced maintenance package, but it shows the scale of the capacity transition underway at the carrier’s new home.

A wider carrier turnover

Lincoln will arrive as Kitsap’s carrier lineup changes. USS Ronald Reagan is already homeported there. The Navy’s official history for USS Nimitz says the service’s oldest active carrier changed homeport from Kitsap to Norfolk in July 2026 in preparation for eventual deactivation and decommissioning.

The future USS John F. Kennedy is scheduled to move to Kitsap in 2029 after its East Coast sea trials and final work. That produces a phased transition: Nimitz has moved east ahead of retirement, Ronald Reagan is based at Kitsap, Lincoln is due by year-end, and the Ford-class Kennedy is planned to follow later in the decade.

Lincoln’s relocation therefore links personnel movement, shipyard access and carrier-force sequencing in one decision. The firm public deadline applies to approximately 5,000 sailors and their families by the end of 2026; the date when their carrier enters maintenance remains unannounced.

By David Whitaker — Associate editor for AMI’s aerospace and drone systems desk, translating flight systems, aircraft programs, spaceflight, and UAV developments into accessible technical stories.