By The Washington Times (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-13 20:36:05 | Updated at 2026-08-14 00:14:58
4 hours ago
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said reports of poor living conditions and food shortages aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier were “completely misrepresented,” even as lawmakers demand answers about the well-being of the sailors and Marines who have been continuously at sea for more than seven months.
Speaking to reporters in Panama on Thursday, Mr. Hegseth acknowledged that some deployments last longer and are tougher than others.
“We make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain, has everything that we can provide them at every single moment,” he said. “I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody. What they do on the high seas in austere conditions with less port calls is incredible.”
Families of crew members have told reporters that morale has plummeted aboard the aircraft carrier as a result of a grueling and extended combat deployment to the Middle East. They have reported cases of severe exhaustion and mental health pressures among the 5,000 Marines and sailors aboard the ship, including multiple attempts to commit suicide by jumping overboard.
The San Diego-based nuclear-powered carrier has played a front-line role in U.S. military operations in the Middle East, serving as a primary launchpad for combat aircraft missions amid the ongoing conflict with Iran.
The deployment was scheduled to end in May but has been extended with no publicly announced return date, though the Pentagon has said the USS George Washington is being sent to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Annabella Luna said she has been kept in the dark for weeks since her emotionally exhausted husband attempted to take his life by jumping overboard.
“He’s scared. He thinks he’ll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out, his 13-year career is over, just like that,” she told the Navy Times newspaper. “That’s not fair. That’s not right. That’s not what he should be worrying about right now.”
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, sent a letter Wednesday to Mr. Hegseth and Navy Secretary Hung Cao demanding to know what is being done to improve conditions for the sailors aboard the Abraham Lincoln.
“There have been widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns, and disruptions of the mail system which have caused many care packages en route to the ship to be lost in transit for months,” Sen. Blumenthal said.
He said the reports warrant immediate attention but also raise a broader question: can the Navy sustain the operational tempo now being demanded of its carrier force?
“Particularly as [the Trump administration] repeatedly commits U.S. forces to conflicts of its own choosing and increasingly relies on aircraft carriers to sustain those operations,” Mr. Blumenthal said.
Shelby Sanders, a high school student whose mother is an Abraham Lincoln crewmember, told Navy Times that she can tell her mom is struggling.
“When she can email me, she’s definitely down,” the teen said. “I think they’ve had five weeks of non-stop combat operations or something like that. That makes it really tough to communicate consistently or even know if we’ll be able to. It sucks.”
Sen. Blumenthal said the situation aboard the Abraham Lincoln is not an isolated case. Recent carrier deployments have repeatedly stretched beyond their original durations, suggesting that extended deployments may be becoming a feature rather than an exception of the Navy’s current force posture.
He has previously raised concerns about the mental health of sailors facing extended deployments and harsh living and working conditions. In 2022, five sailors aboard the USS George Washington died by suicide, including three in one week in April. The deaths occurred while the carrier underwent a lengthy overhaul at the Newport News Shipyard in Virginia.
