Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is pushing back against claims that morale aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln has deteriorated so sharply that sailors have been jumping overboard while deployed at sea.
About 5,000 sailors and Marines have been serving on the aircraft carrier for nearly nine months, after the deployment began on November 21.
The crew was originally expected to return home in May, but officials extended the mission indefinitely as the war with Iran continued.
The prolonged time at sea has reportedly taken a heavy toll on some service members, with relatives claiming that exhaustion and frustration have led several sailors to jump from the ship.
Hegseth, however, rejected that characterization during an interview with Newsmax on Thursday, saying the accounts had been “completely misrepresented.”
“Listen, we make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment,” he said.
The defense secretary acknowledged that “some deployments are longer than others,” while emphasizing that he has “more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody.”
“What they do in those high seas and those austere conditions with less port calls, it’s incredible,” Hegseth added.
Yet he did not directly address the reports detailing supply shortages, water contamination and sailors’ deteriorating mental health, nor did he say when the vessel would return stateside as officials begin deploying the USS George Washington to the region.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth denied reports on Thursday that sailors onboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier are so unhappy with the conditions at sea that they are jumping overboard
The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier is pictured in April carrying out blockade operations in the Arabian Sea
Sailors onboard the aircraft carrier have been deployed for more than eight months with no indication of when they might return
Instead, he simply said he wants the service members ‘home as soon as everybody else’ does.
‘My commanders know that, our service secretaries know that, [President Trump] expects that,’ Hegseth told reporters.
His remarks come as family members continue to worry about their loved ones onboard the aircraft carrier amid reports from the sailors about mildew in the showers and a lack of clean water.
Naval officials have said those issues have resolved, and Hegseth has previously dismissed claims that food supplies were running low as ‘fake news.’
Meanwhile, care packages that families have been sending to the troops have reportedly not made it to the Middle East under an indefinite suspension of mail deliveries to military ZIP codes.
Amid these conditions, Annabelle Loma said her husband was left overextended before he tried to jump overboard.
Her husband is now left on a medical hold, and Loma said she has not heard from anyone in the Navy about his condition for weeks.
‘He’s scared,’ Loma told the Military Times. ‘He thinks he’ll get a dishonorable discharge and just because he was burnt out, his 13-year career is ruined, just like that.
‘That’s not fair. That’s not what he should be worried about.’
There had been concerns that the ship was running out of food supplies amid pictures showing the meager portions sailors were receiving for their meals
In a separate incident, a sailor on watch saw a shipmate preparing to go overboard and intervened, Maria Rodriguez, the sailor’s wife, told the outlet.
She described how her husband called out to the sailor before reaching down and grabbing the sailor’s arms, pulling him back onto deck.
The sailor had not yet gone overboard when her husband rushed to his aid, Rodriguez said, noting that three other sailors heard the commotion and came running to help.
‘He said he hadn’t felt adrenaline like that in his life and he was just so thankful he was able to get to [the sailor] in time, to stop them from going overboard,’ she noted.
Rodriguez said she does not know what happened to the sailor in the aftermath.
Sailors have also described an incident in which watch standers stopped a crew member from going overboard a few months ago amid a struggle with exhaustion and declining morale, according to Stars and Stripes.
But another sailor who jumped off the aircraft carrier last week was reportedly in the water for about an hour before he was rescued, his wife told MS Now.
Sailors’ wives have detailed how some tried to jump overboard from the ship
She described how in her last text message with her husband on July 21, he said he felt life on the ship was getting to him.
‘im really trying to not feel negative or hopeless but between the wifi and not knowing when i will come home and not knowing what is happening back at home, it’s really getting me,’ he wrote in the message, noting that he had been due to leave on July 15 but the plan was canceled.
‘i don’t think i can do another deployment after this and i don’t even know if i can finish this deployment,’ the sailor added.
His wife said he went to the chain of command and the medical team onboard the ship to express his concerns about his mental health, telling them he was not doing OK. But, the wife said her husband told her they kept brushing off his concerns.
She also said her husband expressed his concern that his prescription contact lenses had expired and that he was having trouble seeing and doing his job properly, working on the helicopters on the carrier’s flight deck.
‘Every single time he would make a mistake, they would yell at him and he would get into a lot of trouble,’ the young wife claimed. ‘He would explain to them that he can’t see because his prescription was expired, but they still allowed him to work.
‘I think that also had a big toll on him, because he could have injured a lot of people and he could have injured himself, because that’s what they kept yelling at him every time he made a mistake.’
Her husband is now en route back to San Diego after being medically released. It will be the first time meeting his seven-month-old baby girl as he reunites with his three-and-a-half-year-old son.
‘I just really don’t know what to say about all this because it’s so, because it’s so, it doesn’t feel real to me,’ the worried wife told MS Now.
More than 200 family members met with acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao (left) last Thursday to discuss their concerns about their loved ones’ mental health
Amid these reports, more than 200 concerned family members met with acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao in an emotional town hall meeting last Thursday.
At one point during the meeting, a spouse tearfully told officials she received a message that same day from her husband saying ‘he hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow,’ Stars and Stripes reports.
A mother also described how her daughter feels like she is never going to be able to come home and believes she is going to die on the ship, according to MS Now.
Officials did not respond directly to those claims or similar statements family members made.
Instead, Vice Admiral Joseph Cahill, commander of the Naval Surface Forces, simply acknowledged the strain on sailors and their families the extended deployment causes.
‘We hear you loud and clear [regarding] the impact this has on families, on service members and the long-term ability of us to stand, sustain our force’s health,’ he said.
He then stressed that sailors had access to mental health professionals, chaplains and doctors, and noted they were also sending more mental health professionals to the ship.
Navy officials added that the USS Lincoln’s leadership is continuously assessing sailor’s psychological readiness.
‘Leadership is continuously conducting assessments to monitor and sustain the psychological readiness of every sailor,’ the Navy told Stars and Stripes.
Senator Richard Blumenthal has called for the Navy to account for the conditions aboard the aircraft carrier
Still, Congressional Democrats demanded answers Wednesday about the conditions onboard the aircraft carrier.
In a letter to Hegseth, Senator Richard Blumenthal called for the Navy to account for conditions aboard the aircraft carrier, which ‘has been deployed more than 250 days’ without coming ashore ‘in over 200 days, setting a record for consecutive days at sea.’
Blumenthal voiced concern for such extended deployments, noting ‘widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns’ and other problems aboard the Lincoln.
‘The men and women aboard the Lincoln have answered the call to serve their country,’ the senator from Connecticut wrote. ‘The Department owes them.. adequate supplies, maintenance and support during this deployment.’
Senator Ruben Gallego also called for ‘an official oversight visit with the bipartisan Senate Delegation to the USS Lincoln to investigate the reported alarming conditions,’ in a post on X.
In the meantime, US military officials have sent the USS George Washington from Vietnam to the Middle East to reportedly replace the Lincoln as one of the two aircraft carriers now stationed in the region.
