Donald Trump has downplayed concerns about US sailors enduring a record-setting deployment of nearly nine months aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on Friday, saying the deployment is “not nearly long enough” as concerns mount over mental health and supply issues aboard the aircraft carrier.
The US president made the comments during a brief exchange with reporters before flying to New York for an event highlighting falling violent crime rates across the US.
“That ship is moving right now, or very shortly, and it’s being replaced with another very similar ship,” Trump said when asked about the lengthy deployment. When asked by reporters whether family members were worried about the situation, the president claimed: “No, they’re not.”
The Lincoln has been supporting the US war against Iran, and several Democratic lawmakers are pressing the Pentagon for accountability over conditions aboard the carrier. The defense secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said those conditions have been “completely misrepresented”.
Military families and US Congress members have called attention to the intensifying mental health crisis for those onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, as its ۵,۰۰۰ sailors and marines endure a record-breaking deployment at sea tied to the war with Iran.
The scrutiny comes as the navy has reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports in the crucial strait of Hormuz, even as hostilities between the US and Iran have calmed in recent weeks. The Trump administration has offered no clarity on how it intends to wind down the war, while Hegseth has suggested the US military can maintain the blockage of Iranian ports “indefinitely”.
Another aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington, left port in Da Nang, Vietnam, last week and is expected to replace the Lincoln, one of two aircraft carriers currently deployed in the Middle East.
Two leading specialist military papers, the Navy Times and Stars and Stripes, reported that there have been multiple attempts by sailors to jump overboard as poor conditions and mental stresses on the Lincoln reach a breaking point in its ninth month at sea.
One sailor succeeded in early August, a US official confirmed. “The sailor was quickly recovered by an air wing search and rescue helicopter, treated by Abraham Lincoln’s medical department, and transferred off ship for follow-on care.”
Worried families expressed their concerns about loved ones onboard the Lincoln at an emotional town hall meeting with navy leaders in San Diego last week, Stars and Stripes reported. One spouse among the ۲۰۰ or so family members said that her husband had texted her that day saying “he hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow”.
The US navy said it has “not observed an increase in suicidal ideations or attempts aboard the ship”, but declined to provide data, citing operational security and patient privacy concerns.
The Lincoln is “operating in a highly contested environment where traditional supply hubs in the Middle East were disrupted by combat actions”, the US official said, adding that navy leaders had “prioritized mission-critical supplies: first food, then hygiene items, then mail”.
“Current reports from the ship confirm continuous access to clean water, functional [air conditioning], and healthy meal options,” the official claimed.
In a statement released Friday, Hung Cao, the acting secretary of the navy, similarly downplayed the reports, saying that “sailors and marines are expected to dig deep” and accused the media of “trying to paint our warriors as victims”.
The statement acknowledged that a “small number” of mental health cases were “treated with no loss of life”, and added that “there is no question our young men and women have been pushed to their limits”.
