Pete Hegseth dismisses reports of deteriorating conditions on USS Abraham Lincoln — Sailors 'tried to jump overboard' amid record 250-day deployment

14 August 2026 | Washington, San Diego, Panama — Updated 23:45 GMT

The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, insisted a wave of reports describing deteriorating conditions and mental health struggles onboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln "completely misrepresented" the situation, pushing back against growing congressional pressure over the ship's record-breaking, nearly nine-month deployment.

"We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment," Hegseth told reporters during a visit to Panama, adding that "some deployments are longer than others" and praising sailors enduring "high seas" and "austere conditions with less port calls".

His remarks came a day after Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic senator from Connecticut and a member of the US Senate armed services committee, sent a letter to Hegseth and the acting navy secretary, Hung Cao, demanding a formal accounting of conditions on the carrier. Blumenthal wrote that he had "serious concerns about the increasing length of Carrier Strike Group deployments" and said the Lincoln's extended deployment raised broader questions about "the Navy's ability to sustainably generate carrier forces while preserving servicemember well-being".

Two leading specialist military papers, the Navy Times and Stars and Stripes, are reporting that there have been multiple attempts by sailors to jump overboard as poor conditions and mental stresses on the Lincoln reach the breaking point. The crew is in its ninth month at sea, and has spent 250 days consecutively without making land – a record for an aircraft carrier in modern times.

Welcome to the latest world headlines — where military readiness, mental health, and the human cost of war collide in the Arabian Sea.

Hegseth Dismisses Reports as 'Completely Misrepresented' Amid Growing Congressional Pressure

The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, insisted a wave of reports describing deteriorating conditions and mental health struggles onboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln "completely misrepresented" the situation, pushing back against growing congressional pressure over the ship's record-breaking, nearly nine-month deployment.

"We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment," Hegseth told reporters during a visit to Panama, adding that "some deployments are longer than others" and praising sailors enduring "high seas" and "austere conditions with less port calls".

His remarks came a day after Richard Blumenthal, the Democratic senator from Connecticut and a member of the US Senate armed services committee, sent a letter to Hegseth and the acting navy secretary, Hung Cao, demanding a formal accounting of conditions on the carrier.

Blumenthal wrote that he had "serious concerns about the increasing length of Carrier Strike Group deployments" and said the Lincoln's extended deployment raised broader questions about "the Navy's ability to sustainably generate carrier forces while preserving servicemember well-being".

In the letter, Blumenthal said sailors had reported "shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns" and mail disruptions that left care packages lost in transit for months. He posed six questions to Pentagon leadership, including what metrics the navy uses to track fatigue and morale, and gave officials until 27 August to respond.

Multiple Sailors Attempted to Jump Overboard Amid Record Deployment, Reports Say

Two leading specialist military papers, the Navy Times and Stars and Stripes, are reporting that there have been multiple attempts by sailors to jump overboard as poor conditions and mental stresses on the Lincoln reach the breaking point. The crew is in its ninth month at sea, and has spent 250 days consecutively without making land – a record for an aircraft carrier in modern times.

Worried families vented their anxieties about loved ones onboard the Lincoln at an emotional town hall meeting with navy leaders in San Diego last Thursday, Stars and Stripes reported. One spouse among the 200 or so family members said that her husband had texted her that day saying "he hopes he doesn't wake up tomorrow".

The Navy Times gave details of thwarted suicide attempts onboard the aircraft carrier during the current deployment. Annabelle Loma told the outlet that her husband had tried to jump overboard after his spell at sea kept being extended.

"He's scared. He thinks he'll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out his 13-year career is ruined, just like that," she said.

The paper quoted another sailor's wife whose husband was involved in a separate incident onboard the Lincoln in which he prevented a fellow crew member from jumping, grabbing them and bringing them back on deck.

CNN later reported that a sailor went overboard from the Lincoln last month and was rescued and medically evaluated, citing an unnamed US official. It was not immediately clear how the sailor ended up in the water, or whether they returned to duty.

A navy official on Wednesday told the Guardian: "Based on information available to the command, we have not identified an increase in reported suicidal ideation or suicide attempts aboard the ship."

Record-Breaking Deployment: 250 Days at Sea, Only Two Port Calls

The Lincoln left its home port of San Diego in November, and was later redirected to the Middle East to support US operations in the war with Iran, now in its sixth month. It has not made a port call in more than 240 days, a modern-day record for consecutive time at sea.

Another US aircraft carrier, the Pacific-based USS George Washington, is currently heading toward the Middle East, according to navy statements and open-source marine data. The Wall Street Journal reported that the carrier is set to replace the Lincoln, citing unnamed US officials.

Jason Crow, a US Democratic representative from Colorado, said: "The strain being put on our sailors and their families is completely unacceptable. It's not only hurting the health and wellbeing of our servicemembers, it's affecting military readiness and making us less safe."

"Donald Trump has shown time and time again that he does not care about our servicemembers. The president owes our servicemembers, their families and the American people a plan to end his reckless war with Iran."

The navy traditionally plans carrier deployments for roughly six to seven months, but that does not mean sailors are normally expected to remain continuously at sea for that long. Carrier deployments are typically broken up by port visits, which the navy describes as opportunities for sailors to take a break from the demands of life at sea, and its 2025 carrier briefing said sailors can work more than 12 hours a day during operations.

Families Vent Frustration at Emotional Town Hall with Navy Leadership

The families' worries were expressed directly to navy leadership, represented at the town hall by the acting navy secretary, Hung Cao, and other top officials.

A woman at the meeting told Cao that the navy had "broken trust between us and the leadership", the paper reported.

Mike Levin, a Democratic member of Congress from California, has sounded the alarm over conditions onboard the warship, which is in its fifth month of combat operations against Iran. He described the lot of the crew on X as "moldy showers, broken toilets, laundry down for weeks, long stretches with no hot water, a meal that came down to half a cup of rice and two tortillas. No soap, deodorant, or toothpaste."

Jason Crow, a Democratic Congress member from Colorado who is a former army ranger having served in Afghanistan and Iraq, has warned that the strain on service members and their families on the Lincoln is "building week by week".

The current crunch has been months in the making. The warship left San Diego on 21 November and was originally intended for the Pacific but was redirected to the Middle East once the US-Israel war with Iran began.

Since then, the 5,000-plus crew has had only two days on land, in Guam in December and Oman in July. The deployment was scheduled to end in May but has been extended a couple of times amid the ongoing war.

In April, there was a flurry of public criticism about dire conditions onboard the carrier. Photos emerged of poor-quality and rationed food, and there were reports of water shortages, moldy showers and broken laundry machines.

Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, dismissed the accounts as "more fake news".

Levin responded to Hegseth's remark this week. He said: "These men and women signed up to serve their country. The least their country owes them is hot water, a working toilet and a real meal. Hegseth cannot even manage that, and he has the nerve to look their families in the eye and call them liars."

Navy Studies Link Extended Deployments to Declining Mental Health

A 2024 Naval Postgraduate School study of 873 sailors linked worse mood to shorter, poorer-quality and more fragmented sleep, while a separate navy study from 2024 found 58 submariners averaged 6.6 hours of sleep a day during 30 days under way, with mood declining by the end.

The mental health challenges faced by active-duty US navy personnel are well known. A study from last year looked at the unique stress factors faced by sailors on deployments and found the most common included loud noises, lack of rest, and inadequate mental and physical healthcare.

The researchers conducted a survey of deployed sailors and found that almost half complained that they were not receiving adequate help in coping with stress at sea. The study concluded that "given the high rates of military suicide, including within the navy, efforts to improve healthcare access on ships are urgently needed".

The navy did not immediately return a request for comment. A navy official on Wednesday told the Guardian: "Based on information available to the command, we have not identified an increase in reported suicidal ideation or suicide attempts aboard the ship."

Stars and Stripes and the Navy Times both reported this week, citing interviews with active-duty sailors and military families, that there had been multiple attempts by crew members to jump from the ship, alongside accounts of exhaustion and declining morale.

The Navy Times spoke with Annabelle Loma, whose husband is serving onboard the Lincoln and was reported to have attempted to go overboard during the deployment. Loma said he feared a dishonorable discharge would end his 13-year career. "That's not fair, that's not right," she said.

Stars and Stripes reported, citing one of the attenders, that a spouse tearfully told officials she had received a message that day from her husband saying he hoped he "doesn't wake up tomorrow".

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