Mission Accomplished speech
On May 1, 2003, United States President George W. Bush gave a televised speech on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln. Bush, who had launched the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq six weeks earlier, mounted a podium before a White House-produced banner that read "Mission Accomplished". Reading from a prepared text, he said, "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed" because "the regime [the Iraqi dictatorship of Saddam Hussein] is no more". Although Bush went on to say that "Our mission continues" and "We have difficult work to do in Iraq," his words implied that the Iraq War was over and America had won.
The banner
The USS Abraham Lincoln returning to port carrying the Mission Accomplished banner
President George W. Bush poses for a photo with excited sailors immediately before his "Mission Accomplished" speech.
The S-3B Viking "Navy One" was retired and put in display at the National Museum of Naval Aviation.
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72)
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) is the fifth Nimitz-class aircraft carrier in the United States Navy. She is the third Navy ship to have been named after the former President Abraham Lincoln. Her home port is NAS North Island, San Diego, California; she is a member of the United States Pacific Fleet. She is administratively responsible to Commander, Naval Air Forces Pacific, and operationally serves as the flagship of Carrier Strike Group 3 and host to Carrier Air Wing Nine. She was returned to the fleet on 12 May 2017, marking the successful completion of her Refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) carried out at Newport News Shipyard. On 1 April 2019, USS Abraham Lincoln was deployed to the Middle East as the flagship for Carrier Strike Group 12 and Carrier Air Wing Seven assigned to her.
Abraham Lincoln underway in the Atlantic Ocean on 30 January 2019
Abraham Lincoln returning to port carrying the Mission Accomplished banner, 2 May 2003
A mock-up of the fictional F/A-37 Talon aboard Abraham Lincoln during production of the film Stealth in 2004
A camera crew sets up for scenes from the movie Stealth to be filmed on the flight deck with the crew