"Abraham Lincoln" and the carrier battle group and airwing helped deliver the opening salvos and air strikes in Operation Iraqi Freedom. During the airwing's deployment, some 16,500 sorties were flown and 1.6 million pounds of ordnance were used. Sea Control Squadron 35 (VS-35), the "Blue Wolves", was instrumental in delivering over of fuel to these strike aircraft, one of the largest aerial refueling undertakings by a carrier aviation squadron in history. The carrier returned home in May 2003, in the process receiving a visit from President George W. Bush before officially ending "Abraham Lincoln"s deployment by docking at San Diego before returning to homeport in Everett, Washington. Bush stated at the time that this was the end to major combat operations in Iraq. While this statement did coincide with an end to the conventional phase of the war, Bush's assertion—and the sign itself—became controversial after guerrilla warfare in Iraq increased during the Iraqi insurgency. The vast majority of casualties, both military and civilian, occurred after the speech. The White House said their services constructed the banner. As explained by Cmdr. Conrad Chun, a Navy spokesman, "The banner was a Navy idea, the ship's idea. The idea popped up in one of the meetings aboard the ship preparing for her homecoming and thought it would be good to have a banner, 'Mission Accomplished.' The sailors then asked if the White House could get the sign made. ... The banner signified the successful completion of the ship's deployment," Cmdr. Chun continued, noting that "Abraham Lincoln" was deployed 290 days, longer than any other nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in history. This record would later be broken in 2020.