Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth flew out to the USS Abraham Lincoln on October 8 and read the Presidential Unit Citation, signed by President Trump, to the strike group one day before its return to San Diego. The citation’s figures amount to the first official consolidated public accounting of the Iran campaign: 3,693 combat sorties, about 1.37 million pounds of ordnance, 450 Tomahawk cruise missiles launched, 77 one-way attack drones shot down, 64 Iranian warships sunk, 21 anti-ship cruise missiles destroyed, and defense against four fast-attack and explosive-carrying boats.
The deployment set records: 265 uninterrupted days at sea, about 321 days total after leaving San Diego in November 2025. The citation covers 40 days of combat operations under Operation Epic Fury beginning February 28, followed by a months-long blockade in and around the Strait of Hormuz. Hegseth said the group suffered no casualties and no aircraft mishaps, while acknowledging resupply strain. The Navy has confirmed eight sailors attempted suicide during the deployment, a fact that has drawn congressional scrutiny.
The 64-ship figure is new as an official total, though partial tallies circulated mid-war: a July survey reported all eight Iranian corvettes and frigates sunk and 13 of 18 submarines destroyed, and Trump said nine vessels were sunk on March 1. Against a pre-war Iranian navy of roughly 90 to 97 hulls plus the IRGC’s swarm-boat fleet of hundreds to over a thousand small craft, 64 sunk would represent most of the conventional hull count, though the small IRGC boats proved hard to kill.
Iran’s conventional blue-water navy is effectively gutted on these figures, leaving shore-based missiles, mines flagged as an ongoing hazard, and hidden IRGC boats. The blockade continues: the USS George Washington relieved the Lincoln in August, the George H.W. Bush remains on station, and the Theodore Roosevelt is expected by late October. Oil prices eased after Trump’s October 8 pledge of no strikes before the November 3 midterms, citing productive discussions, though he said the blockade stays in full force.