Global_Security

Copilot:

Has the Abraham Lincoln carrier made it back to San Diego yet?

Short answer: No — not yet.  

All the latest reporting shows the USS Abraham Lincoln is still en route to San Diego and has not arrived as of mid‑September 2026.

🛳️ Where the Lincoln is right now

Satellite imagery from September 8, 2026 placed the carrier in the southern South China Sea, heading east toward the Pacific on its homeward transit. 

It had departed Thailand on September 6 after its first real port visit in 9½ months. 

📅 Estimated arrival

OSINT analysts estimated ~20 days from September 8, which puts the arrival around late September 2026. 

Political.org’s reporting similarly projected late September to early October as the expected window. 

🧭 Context

The Lincoln is returning from a historic 286‑day deployment, including nearly seven months of combat operations in the Middle East before being relieved by the USS George Washington. 

✅ Bottom line

As of today (19 September 2026), the USS Abraham Lincoln has not reached San Diego.  

It is still crossing the Pacific and is expected late September or early October.

If you want, I can track daily position updates, estimate transit speed, or map the remaining route across the Pacific.

Where with respect to SanDiego is the actual port?

Short answer: The actual port for aircraft carriers in San Diego is Naval Air Station North Island (NAS North Island), located on the north end of Coronado, directly across the bay from downtown San Diego. 

📍 Where NAS North Island is relative to San Diego

It sits on the Coronado peninsula, at the entrance to San Diego Bay.

Geographically, it is west of downtown San Diego, separated by the bay.

Coordinates: 32.69917° N, 117.21528° W. 

When you stand in downtown San Diego and look across the water, North Island is directly opposite you.

🛳️ Why this matters for carriers

NAS North Island is the home port for U.S. Navy aircraft carriers, including the USS Abraham Lincoln when it returns. It has the carrier piers, aviation facilities, and deep-water access needed for Nimitz-class carriers. 

🗺️ How it relates to the rest of the naval complex

San Diego has two major naval bases:

NAS North Island (Coronado) — aircraft carriers

Naval Base San Diego (32nd Street) — destroyers, cruisers, amphibs, auxiliaries

Located south of downtown, along the east side of San Diego Bay. 

Carriers do not berth at 32nd Street — they go to North Island.

🧭 Practical orientation

If you imagine San Diego Bay as a “U” shape:

Right side (east): 32nd Street Naval Station

Left side (west): NAS North Island

Downtown sits at the top of the U, facing both bases across the water.

If you want, I can map the carrier’s exact arrival route into the bay, including the approach channel, turning basin, and typical pier assignment at North Island.

There is a stretch of Beach as one approaches San Diego that - as one youtuber has reported - smells awful. What can you tell me about that?

Ah — I know exactly what stretch of beach you’re talking about, and yes, the smell is a real, well‑documented problem. It’s not Coronado Beach itself (which is famously clean), but rather the Silver Strand / Imperial Beach approach — the long sandy isthmus south of Coronado that you drive past when coming up toward San Diego.

And the smell is not just “a bad day.” It’s a chronic environmental issue.

🌊 Why that stretch of beach sometimes smells awful

The culprit is polluted water flowing north from Tijuana, especially from the Tijuana River. When conditions line up — currents, wind direction, recent sewage spills — the odor can be unmistakable:

Raw sewage

Industrial runoff

Rotting organic matter

Sulfur compounds (the “rotten egg” smell)

Decaying kelp trapped in polluted surf

This isn’t speculation; it’s been confirmed repeatedly by:

Scripps Institution of Oceanography

Surfrider Foundation

San Diego County environmental monitoring

Local residents and lifeguards

And yes, countless YouTubers and surfers

📍 Where exactly the smell happens

The stretch is south of Coronado, along the Silver Strand — the sandy tombolo that connects Coronado to the mainland. Coronado itself is a “tied island” connected by this strip of land .

The worst area is:

Imperial Beach

Border Field State Park

South Silver Strand

As you drive north toward Coronado, the smell usually fades by the time you reach the Hotel del Coronado area or the Coronado Bridge.

🧭 Why it hits people arriving by car

If someone is:

Driving up Highway 75 along the Silver Strand

Approaching Coronado from the south

Windows down

On a warm day with light winds

They will absolutely notice it.

The odor can be strong enough that:

Joggers stop running

Cyclists report nausea

Beachgoers leave

Navy personnel complain during commutes to Naval Amphibious Base Coronado (located on the south side of Coronado) 

🧪 What causes the smell on a chemical level

The odor comes from:

Hydrogen sulfide (rotten egg)

Ammonia

Volatile organic compounds from sewage

Anaerobic decomposition of kelp and algae

Bacteria-rich foam washing ashore

When the surf churns polluted water, it aerosolizes these compounds — so you smell it even if the beach looks clean.

🌬️ Why it’s worse some days

The smell intensifies when:

Currents push water north from Mexico

The wind blows from the south

The Tijuana River has recently discharged

There’s been rain in Tijuana

The ocean is warm and calm

Kelp beds are decaying

🏖️ Important: Coronado Beach itself does NOT usually smell

Coronado Beach (the one by the Hotel del Coronado) is:

Highly rated

Clean

Well-maintained

Popular with tourists

Ranked among top U.S. beaches in past surveys 

The smell is south of Coronado, not in Coronado proper.

✔️ Bottom line

Yes — that stretch of beach does smell awful at times, and the YouTuber wasn’t exaggerating.

It’s a known environmental issue tied to cross-border sewage pollution, especially near Imperial Beach and the Silver Strand.

If you want, I can explain:

Why the problem has gotten worse in recent years

How the Navy bases are affected

Which months have the strongest odor

Why some days smell fine and others are terrible

Just tell me what angle you’re curious about.

How are large ships like the Abraham Lincoln cleaned out when they reach home base?

Large ships like the USS Abraham Lincoln don’t just “park and relax” when they reach home base — they go through a massive, highly organized reset process that touches every part of the ship, from the flight deck to the engine rooms. None of this is described in your Coronado page, but I’ll anchor a few geographic details to the page where relevant (e.g., the ship berths at NAS North Island, which is indeed located on Coronado across San Diego Bay from downtown ).

Below is the real sequence of what happens when a Nimitz‑class carrier returns from deployment.

🛳️ 1. Pier-side “Safe Ship” Securing

Once the carrier ties up at Naval Air Station North Island (the carrier base on Coronado ), the first priority is making the ship safe for thousands of workers:

Shut down reactors to cold iron (shore power takes over)

Secure aviation fuel systems

Lock out/tag out machinery

Offload weapons and classified materials

Begin environmental hazard checks (asbestos, fuel vapors, hydraulic leaks)

This phase takes 24–72 hours.

🧹 2. Massive Internal Cleaning (“Tiger Teams”)

A carrier returning from 8–10 months at sea is filthy in ways civilians never see.

Teams sweep through:

Berthing compartments (hundreds of rooms)

Galleys and sculleries

Heads (bathrooms) — thousands of fixtures

Passageways (the ship has over 20 km of corridors)

Engineering spaces (oil, hydraulic fluid, salt residue)

Cleaning includes:

Industrial degreasing

Mold remediation

Salt corrosion removal

Ventilation duct cleaning

Waste tank pumping

This is not cosmetic — it’s required to prevent long-term corrosion and health hazards.

🧼 3. Hull and Exterior Cleaning

The underwater hull is cleaned in dry dock or by divers, depending on the maintenance cycle.

Tasks include:

Removing barnacles, algae, and biofouling

Inspecting sea chests, intakes, and rudders

Cleaning and repainting the anti-fouling coating

Checking the propeller shafts and screws

A Nimitz-class carrier can accumulate hundreds of tons of marine growth during deployment.

♻️ 4. Waste Removal and Environmental Processing

Carriers generate enormous waste streams:

Sewage

Gray water

Hazardous waste (paint, solvents, hydraulic fluid)

Aviation fuel residues

Medical waste

Food waste

At home port, specialized contractors remove and process all of it according to EPA and Navy regulations.

🍽️ 5. Galley Deep-Clean and Restocking

The ship’s food service areas undergo:

Steam cleaning

Grease trap replacement

Pest control

Refrigeration system inspection

Full restocking (carriers carry ~90 days of food)

🛠️ 6. Maintenance Availability (Selected Restricted Availability or Docking Availability)

This is the big one.

Depending on the ship’s condition, the Navy schedules:

SRA (pier-side maintenance lasting 2–4 months)

DSRA (dry-dock maintenance lasting 6–12 months)

Work includes:

Overhauling catapults and arresting gear

Repainting the flight deck

Replacing radar arrays

Servicing aircraft elevators

Reactor compartment inspections

Habitability upgrades (new bunks, lighting, flooring)

👥 7. Crew Offload and Turnover

The crew goes through:

Medical screenings

Leave periods

Training rotations

Transfers to new commands

Onboarding of new sailors

A carrier’s population drops from ~5,000 during deployment to ~1,000–1,500 during maintenance.

🧭 8. Aircraft and Squadron Offload

Air Wing squadrons remove:

Jets

Helicopters

Spare parts

Tools

Weapons

Support equipment

The flight deck becomes quiet — almost eerie — during this phase.

🧽 9. “Hotel Services” Reset

The ship’s internal life-support systems are cleaned and recalibrated:

Freshwater production

Air conditioning plants

Laundry systems

Berthing ventilation

Fire suppression systems

🧩 10. Corrosion Control and Painting

Saltwater destroys everything. The Navy fights back with:

Sanding

Priming

Painting

Replacing rusted fixtures

Recoating ladders, rails, and bulkheads

A carrier has millions of square feet of paintable surface.

🧾 Bottom Line

When the USS Abraham Lincoln reaches NAS North Island, it undergoes a full industrial reset — cleaning, maintenance, waste removal, crew turnover, and hull servicing. It’s closer to refurbishing a small city than washing a ship.

If you want, I can break down:

What happens day by day after arrival

How the reactor shutdown works

What the crew’s life looks like during maintenance

How the Navy decides whether a carrier goes into dry dock or stays pier-side

Just tell me which angle you want.

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https://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/san-diego-navsta.htm

https://youtu.be/21av5d6W_oo?si=ZpvL7EwSulkrD-fY