Sailors aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) hosted more than 50 family members during a Thanksgiving holiday celebration on board Nov. 24 as the ship completes the final stages of its Refueling Complex Overhaul (RCOH).

Thanksgiving brings to mind the many blessings and the opportunity to spend time with family and friends. However, deployments, exercises and duty days often mean Sailors cannot return home for the celebration.

With that in mind, leadership worked in conjunction with Newport News Shipbuilding to allow Sailors to bring family members aboard to enjoy a traditional Thanksgiving meal prepared by the ship's culinary specialists - complete with turkey, ham, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, fresh homemade bread and other dishes.

"It's tradition to invite families onboard to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal," said Commanding Officer Capt. Ronald Ravelo. "But as you can see when you walk around the ship today, we have a lot of work going on and we're working hard to redeliver our ship to the fleet. So we really appreciate Newport News for helping us allow this to happen."

The ship's culinary specialists spent weeks planning for the event, hoping the meal would bring a special touch of home to the crew members.

"These meals are especially important to us because we want to create a normal Thanksgiving experience for everyone involved," said Petty Officer 3rd Class (select) Felicity Powell, from Clarksville, Tennessee, "It's hard to give people that feeling, but we're all we've got, so we do our best."

The families and friends were most appreciative of the home-cooked meal as well as the hard work and extra effort of the crew to make the event possible.

"The meal was delicious," said Kevin Reinhart, one of the family members. "Everyone worked so hard to make sure it was a good experience and I'm grateful to be with my loved ones."

President George Washington proclaimed the first public Thanksgiving in 1769, but it was President Abraham Lincoln, the ship's namesake, who established the annual Thanksgiving Day holiday in 1863. Prior to this, each state scheduled its own Thanksgiving holiday at different times, mainly in New England and other Northern states.

"Thanksgiving is already a special day to pause and give appreciation for the blessings in your life," said Chief Petty Officer Amy Kirk. "But, when I learned that Lincoln, our namesake, played a huge part in making it a national holiday, the day felt even more special.

Lincoln is in the final stages of a four-year RCOH and is scheduled to be delivered back to the fleet in early 2017.

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