Laem Chabang (Thailand) (AFP) – A US aircraft carrier at the centre of controversy over conditions on board arrived in Thailand on Wednesday for its first port call in nine months. The 5,000 sailors and Marines on board the USS Abraham Lincoln, arriving from the war in the Middle East, are headed for the Thai resort of Pattaya, a rest-and-recreation stop for US troops since the Vietnam War. Tugs guided the huge nuclear-powered carrier, dozens of warplanes lined up on its flight deck, towards the port of Laem Chabang on Wednesday morning, AFP reporters saw.
“Our arrival in Laem Chabang provides a well-deserved opportunity for our Sailors and Marines to rest and recharge,” Rear Admiral Robert Loughran, commander of the US Carrier Strike Group 3, said in a statement. The Lincoln’s commanding officer, Captain Dan Keeler, added that its first port visit of the “historic deployment” — after 286 days at sea — would allow “our crew to enjoy this beautiful and historic country”. An official in Pattaya said it was due to dock shortly before lunchtime.
The Lincoln left California in November 2025 for duty in the South China Sea and was rerouted to the Middle East before US-Israeli attacks on Iran that began six months ago. Reports of deteriorating living conditions and poor mental health on board — including attempted suicides — made headlines in the United States and provoked criticism of President Donald Trump’s war against Iran. Pattaya is hugely popular with foreign tourists, known for its beaches and a nightlife scene that has long drawn scrutiny over sex tourism.
Pattaya’s mayor, Poramase Ngampiches, told AFP this week that there had been a recent crackdown on sex workers but denied it was linked to the US arrivals. Outside one bar in the resort on Tuesday was a sign saying “Welcome all US military personnel. Thank you for your service”.
The mayor said buses have been laid on to transport the sailors from the ship to Pattaya and back until the carrier departs on Sunday. “They come to relax,” Poramase said in a video posted on Facebook. “Our preparations will focus on safety and ensuring fair pricing, so we don’t take advantage of them.” He said the sailors have been banned from water sports such as jet skis, and from taking advantage of Thailand’s lax cannabis laws. But he encouraged them to enjoy the city’s many other attractions, from malls to religious sites.
“We’re happy to get business from anybody,” Nicko, the French owner of a go-go bar in Pattaya, told AFP this week. “We’ll have to be careful because, as we know, things can get out of hand with alcohol involved.” Democratic lawmakers have called for an investigation into conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln following reports of food shortages, broken plumbing, and mental health crises.
But Trump dismissed the concerns, as well as the suggestion the ship had been deployed for too long. “A small number of mental health cases were treated with no loss of life,” acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said in mid-August, blaming the media for “trying to paint our warriors as victims”.
The carrier was replaced in the Middle East by the USS George Washington, which had been in Japan, as the US-Israel war with Iran drags on. That ship in turn will be relieved by the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which will sail from San Diego in the coming weeks, according to private military association the US Naval Institute. The US has maintained an aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea for strike missions over Iran since the US and Israel launched the war at the end of February, and subsequently to enforce a naval blockade of Iranian ports.
© 2024 AFP
