By. Scott Jackson
01/20/2026
Several days ago the USS Abraham Lincoln(CVN 72) along with its Carrier Strike Group(CSG) which had most recently been sailing in the South China Sea, turned West, reportedly, with new orders- to sail to the Middle East. The ship and her escorts will join the US Fifth Fleet and conduct operations in the strategically and geopolitically important waterways of the Middle East.
Currently the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is made up of destroyers USS Frank E. Petersen, Jr. (DDG-121), USS Spruance (DDG-111) and USS Michael Murphy (DDG-112). The carrier embarked with the air power of Carrier Air Wing (CVW) 9.
Late on Sunday (about 11:00 pm local time) the carrier was spotted entering the Malacca Strait which can be seen In the photo below, posted by USNI the ship was caught sailing past Singapore at about midnight. By Monday the carrier’s AIS data showed it was on the last stretch of the Malacca Strait before the Indian Ocean.
There are currently no U.S. aircraft carriers in the Middle East and right now there are only two CSG’s deployed at all- the Abraham Lincoln CSG heading towards the Middle East and the Gerald R. Ford CSG which has been operating in the Caribbean.
GCR as well as other media outlets have reached out to the Pentagon as well as the Navy for confirmation, but we’ve received no statement back at the time of writing.
The instability in the region since 2024 has three times now caused a carrier strike group to be rerouted from the Indo-pacific region to the Middle East. USS Abraham Lincoln in 2024 and the USS Nimitz CSG last June.
The USS Abraham Lincoln will reach the Central Command (CENTCOM) area of responsibility in roughly 5-6 days. Tensions in the area are the probable cause of this redeployment and shifting of forces, with instability and conflict in both Syria and Iran.
Following protest being met with violence in Iran, the White House threatened military action against Iran with President Trump claiming “Help is on its way.”. Those protest have been ongoing in multiple cities around the country for several weeks now, and are often met with gunfire from the various Iranian security forces. In Syria, fighting between the regime and Kurdish SDF forces in the North has been ongoing for a time.
The redeployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln from the Indo-Pacific leaves only the forward deployed USS George Washington (CVN 73), currently undergoing maintenance in Yokosuka, Japan. It would take some time for the USS George Washington to be 6ready for sea as at the very least its carrier air wing would need to undergo carrier qualification training before being allowed to set sail.
The U.S. also has the Japan-based amphibious assault ship Tripoli (LHA-7) which is conducting patrols in the Indo-Pacific region as well as cruiser USS Robert Smalls (CG-62) and destroyer USS Rafael Peralta (DDG-115) according to USNI.
Apart from naval movements, sharp eyed flight trackers noticed an increase in flights heading to US bases in the Middle East. In the last 24 hours at least a dozen US Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles from the 48th Fighter Wing departed RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom and arrived at the Muwaffew Salti Air Base in Jordan. Four KC-135’s accompanied them. A number of C-17’s also reportedly departed from the UK and made their way to the Middle East.
Global Conflict Reporting 
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