Democratic lawmakers are demanding answers from the War Department about conditions on board the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln after multiple reports indicate the grind of an extended deployment has taken a severe mental toll on the ship’s roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines.
On Tuesday, Navy Times reported that at least two sailors had been prevented from jumping overboard, while other family members who spoke to the outlet said their loved ones were in a deep funk aboard the Lincoln — which began a scheduled seven-month deployment in the South China Sea this past November, but was redirected to the Arabian Sea in January, shortly before the start of Operation Epic Fury against Iran.
U.S. Sailors move ordnance on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Saturday, February 28, 2026, at sea. Getty Images
Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.), whose district covers part of San Diego County, which has a high military population, reported in an X post Aug. 7 that the Lincoln had “[m]oldy showers, broken toilets, no hot water for weeks, meals that came down to half a cup of rice and two tortillas,” as well as a “ship’s store out of soap, deodorant, and toothpaste” and “sailors so worn down that, according to one family member, the ship’s own doctor warned they need to reach port soon or people are going to start losing their minds.”
“Today would be a great day for [Presidnet] Trump to fire [War Secretary] Pete Hegseth and replace him with someone who is actually competent,” Levin doubled down on X Wednesday. “Every American and every soldier deployed abroad would be safer for it.”
In a Wednesday letter to Hegseth and Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (R-Conn.) noted that the Lincoln “has not made a port call in over 200 days, setting a record for consecutive days at sea.”
“There have been widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns, and disruptions in the mail system, which have caused many care packages in route to the ship to be lost in transit for months,” added Blumenthal, who warned that the Navy “must ensure that decisions to extend carrier deployments account not only for immediate operational requirements, but also for their cumulative effects on crew safety, equipment readiness, maintenance schedules, and the ability of the carrier force to meet future contingencies.”
Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) sails in the Arabian Sea on Friday, May 29, 2026. The vessel is deployed to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of operations to support maritime security and stability in the Middle East. (Digital) U.S. Central Command Public Affairs
Blumenthal, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, demanded the Navy provide its own reporting on conditions aboard the carrier, its assessment of the enlisted men and women’s physical and mental readiness to perform their duties, and whether the Lincoln’s continued deployment was necessary to achieve US military objectives against Iran.
