The Navy says the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln departs Puget Sound Tuesday to lead a strike group on routine deployment in the western Pacific, Indian Ocean and Arabian Gulf.

The strike group includes two other Everett-based ships, the destroyers Momsen and Shoup, and the San Diego-based destroyers Halsey, Sterett and guided missile cruiser Cape St. George. The Lincoln will carry airplanes from Naval Air Station Lemoore, California.

The Lincoln returned from a seven-month mission supporting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in October 2008 and underwent a nine-month $250 million overhaul at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard.

The nuclear-powered Lincoln is scheduled to head to Newport News, Virginia at the end of 2011 for refueling.

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