A Navy helicopter pilot has become the first woman to command a US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier on deployment.

Capt. Amy Bauernschmidt, commanding officer of the USS Abraham Lincoln, set sail for the western Pacific from San Diego on Monday after nine months of training exercises.

'This is an amazing day,' she said. 'They are going to do exceptional work out there, and I just can't wait to watch them succeed.'

The deployment comes after five sailors were killed during training in September when their helicopter crashed into the carrier's flight deck and tumbled into the sea.

Bauernschmidt, who came through the ranks flying helicopters, had only been in command 12 days when the tragedy struck.

'It is always a tough experience and no one is prepared for something like that - everyone deals with it in their own way,' she said. 'It was a tough day that none of us will ever forget.'

The warship sets sail amid soaring tensions between China and Taiwan, as well as other US-backed nations throughout the South China Sea and Pacific which are facing increasingly hostile action by Beijing.

Rear Adm. Jeffrey Anderson, the Lincoln carrier strike group commander, did not address those ongoing foreign policy matters during a press conference on Monday.

He did, however, comment on the surging coronavirus infections across the nation which have been spurred by the highly-infectious Omicron variant.

'We do have some positive cases within the strike group,' Anderson said. 'But ... we're extremely confident that we can safely and effectively execute our mission.'