Two American sailors from the USS Abraham Lincoln were sent back to their ship after a drunken brawl broke out in Pattaya, Thailand, just hours after the aircraft carrier completed a record-breaking 286 days at sea. The incident occurred near Walking Street in the city's red-light district, despite extensive precautions taken by US and Thai authorities to keep the roughly 5,000-strong crew out of trouble during the port visit, underscoring the challenges of managing sailors' shore leave after such an extended deployment.

Local police said the sailors were drunk and fighting loudly but had not broken any Thai law; they will nonetheless remain confined to the ship for the rest of its five-day stop. Authorities had banned crew from Soi 6, a strip club street, and from cannabis shops, paragliding and jet-skiing, while reminding servicemen that prostitution remains illegal despite an estimated 25,000 to 50,000 sex workers operating in the city. The Lincoln left San Diego last November for what was meant to be a six-month Pacific deployment but was diverted to the Gulf after US and Israeli military action against Iran began in February, leaving the crew without any other port stops; the visit is thought to be the largest by US servicemen to Pattaya since the fall of Saigon in 1975, and the ship departs for home on Sunday.