'' Abraham Lincoln '' began a fourth deployment in June 1998 . Once again , the ship headed for the Persian Gulf in support of operation Southern Watch . During this deployment , the '' Abraham Lincoln '' carrier battle group launched Tomahawk cruise missiles against two sites . The first was a Sudanese pharmaceutical factory suspected of assisting Osama bin Laden in making chemical weapons . The second was Bin Laden 's terrorist training camps in Afghanistan . These strikes were ordered by President Clinton 13 days after terrorists bombed the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania and was codenamed Operation Infinite Reach . '' Abraham Lincoln '' was awarded the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal , and '' Abraham Lincoln '' carrier battle group the Meritorious Unit Commendation ribbon for its participation
bombed the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania
1998 United States embassy bombings
USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72)