Captain Daniel Keeler, commanding officer of USS Abraham Lincoln, prepares to fly an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter in the Indian Ocean on January 23, 2026. Each of the 10 existing Nimitz-class vessels costs $4.5 billion and the Abraham Lincoln can support a crew of up to 5,680 people. The carriers can also host squadrons of stealth aircraft, including Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II fighter jets and Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets, according to AP. The Abraham Lincoln might also be carrying additional equipment, like the AN/SLQ-25A Nixie decoy system, which uses sound to prevent underwater torpedoes from tracking a ship. But the primary reason for US military intervention would likely be to curb Iran’s nuclear programme.