After almost a year at sea: Thousands welcome USS Lincoln in San Diego

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It was four in the morning, the sky over the naval base in San Diego still pitch-black, when 19-year-old Pvt Grayden Monroe and his mother took their seats on metal bleachers above the dark water. They were the first family members to sit there. They were waiting for Monroe's 21-year-old sister – and for the moment when she would have solid ground under her feet again after nearly a year at sea.

On Thursday, the US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln arrived in its home port in San Diego, California. According to a Guardian report, thousands of family members and onlookers came to greet the crew after a deployment described as "grueling." The warship had been at sea for "most of the past year," the newspaper writes.

Monroe himself wore his Army uniform to greet her. The soldier is stationed at Fort Campbell. What he wants to say to his sister when she steps off the ship, he revealed to the Guardian:

I hope she's proud of me – and I hope she damn well knows that I'm just as proud of her.

Mixed emotions on shore

The Guardian writes that military families showed "mixed emotions" at the reunion. The deployment had been "grueling" and taken a "severe toll." Exactly how many months the USS Abraham Lincoln was underway and what operations it carried out during that time is not clear from the available information. One thing is certain: the Thursday morning return marked the end of a long separation for the families at home.

What is known so far

You can keep an eye on the Guardian's live ticker – more impressions from aboard and from the pier are likely to follow throughout the day. As soon as we have reliable details on the course of the deployment and the length of the mission, we will update this article.