By Focus | 2026-01-16

The US Navy's USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72), its fifth Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, recently carried out live-fire exercises and a replenishment at sea in the South China Sea as part of its ongoing routine operations, according to publicly released Navy imagery and reporting.

The live-fire event included use of the ship's Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) on January 8, US Navy photographs show. The radar-guided system is designed to engage threats at close range and is widely viewed as a ship's last line of defense.

The carrier has been operating in the South China Sea for at least two weeks and that Navy imagery placed the ship in the waterway since at least December 26, Stars and Stripes reported. Photos from early January show continued flight operations as well as damage-control training, explosive ordnance disposal drills and replenishments at sea.

'Routine operations'

The strike group began its current deployment from San Diego in late November with limited advance notice. "For security reasons, it's common for the Navy to say little or nothing when a carrier deploys. But word often quickly surfaces as to whether a San Diego carrier will be going to the Indo-Pacific or the Middle East," the San Diego Union-Tribune wrote in November.

The Abraham Lincoln deployed with escorts from Carrier Strike Group 3 (CSG-3), including Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Spruance, USS Michael Murphy and USS Frank E. Petersen Jr., according to US Navy releases and photo captions. Navy imagery shows fixed-wing aircraft launches and recoveries from the carrier's flight deck during the deployment.

The Abraham Lincoln and its escorts arrived in Guam on December 11 for a scheduled port visit, the US Navy said in a release.

"Our Strike Group presence in 7th Fleet waters demonstrates our commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific," Rear Adm. Todd Whalen, commander of CSG-3, said in a statement. "Port calls to strategic locations like Guam enhance our mission readiness and help us stay ready to execute maritime operations in theater."

After Guam, the strike group operated in the Philippine Sea into late December, according to the US Naval Institute's carrier tracker, before later appearing in naval imagery from the South China Sea. A replenishment at sea with USNS Cesar Chavez was documented on January 7, a day before the CIWS live-fire drill.

US Navy Cmdr. Matthew Comer, a spokesperson for the US 7th Fleet, described the strike group's activities as "routine operations," Stars and Stripes reported, as the fleet conducts regular patrols across the Indo-Pacific.

Taiwan tensions

The carrier's South China Sea training overlapped with China's live-fire drills around Taiwan on December 29 and 30, which Beijing said simulated a blockade of the island's main ports and involved missile launches and deployments of aircraft and vessels.

China called Justice Mission 2025 a "punitive and deterrent action" aimed at Taiwan and countries supporting its independence from Chinese rule, according to a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement. Its language seeks to normalize the People's Liberation Army's blockade concept and to recast what could otherwise be an unlawful use of force as an internal policing action.

Although China showed some restraint during the exercise, the Jamestown Foundation said that a future operation without such restraint "could carry far more serious consequences," likely including "significant disruption to air and maritime traffic in the Taiwan Strait and the Bashi Channel."

"We urge relevant countries and institutions to strictly abide by the one-China principle," a Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson said in a January 2 statement issued amid calls for restraint, including from the United States.

"China's military activities and rhetoric toward Taiwan and others in the region increase tensions unnecessarily," US State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement January 1.

"We urge Beijing to exercise restraint, cease its military pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue."

Beijing asserts sovereignty over more than 80% of the South China Sea despite competing claims from the Philippines, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei. A 2016 arbitral ruling in The Hague rejected China's expansive maritime claim under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea framework, though Beijing has rejected the decision.

On January 15, the Abraham Lincoln and its strike group repeatedly received orders to leave the South China Sea and sail toward the Middle East, ending its latest stretch of operations in the disputed waters.