Sailors on the American aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln attempted to jump overboard during a prolonged deployment related to the war against Iran, according to specialized military publications.
Military families and members of Congress are sounding the alarm over the deepening mental health crisis aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, as about 5,000 sailors and marines endure a record-length stay at sea. Leading military publications Navy Times and Stars and Stripes report several attempts by sailors to jump overboard, as harsh conditions and psychological strain on the aircraft carrier reach a critical point.
The crew has been at sea for nine months and has spent 250 consecutive days without setting foot on land, a record for an aircraft carrier in the modern era. Concerned families expressed their worries about their loved ones aboard the Lincoln during an emotional meeting with Navy leadership in San Diego last Thursday, according to Stars and Stripes. One of the approximately 200 family members present said that her husband sent her a message that day: “he hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow”.
Family members directly expressed their concerns to the Navy leadership, represented at the meeting by Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao and other senior officials. One woman told Cao that the Navy had “broken the trust between us and the leadership,” the publication writes. Navy Times provided details of several suicide attempts that were prevented during the current deployment of the aircraft carrier. Annabelle Loma told the publication that her husband tried to jump overboard after his time at sea was repeatedly extended. “He is scared. He thinks he will get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was exhausted, his 13-year career is ruined just like that,” she said. The newspaper also quoted the wife of another sailor whose husband was involved in a separate incident aboard the Lincoln: he prevented another crew member from jumping overboard by grabbing him and pulling him back onto the deck.
Conditions aboard and Congress’s response
California Congressman, Democrat Mike Levin, raised the alarm about the conditions aboard the warship, which is in its fifth month of combat operations against Iran. In a post on the X platform, he described the conditions for the crew as “moldy showers, broken toilets, washing machines that haven’t worked for weeks, long periods without hot water, food reduced to half a cup of rice and two tortillas. No soap, deodorant, or toothpaste.” Jason Crow, a Congressman from Colorado, Democrat, and former Army Ranger who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, warned that the strain on “our service members and their families” aboard the Lincoln “grows with each passing week.”
The current crisis has been brewing for months. The aircraft carrier left San Diego on November 21 and was initially supposed to head to the Pacific Ocean, but after the war between the U.S., Israel, and Iran began, it was redirected to the Middle East. As MS Now found out, since then, the crew of over 5,000 people has had only two days on land — in Guam in December and in Oman in July. The deployment was supposed to end in May, but it has been extended several times due to the ongoing war. In April, a wave of public criticism arose regarding the harsh conditions aboard the aircraft carrier. Photos of poor and rationed food emerged, along with reports of water shortages, moldy showers, and broken washing machines.
Department of Defense response and study findings
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed these reports as “more fake news.” Mike Levin responded to his statement 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 decent food.” Levin stated that Hegseth “can’t even provide that, and he has the audacity to look their families in the eye and call them liars.” The Guardian contacted the U.S. Navy for comment on the reports of attempts to jump overboard but had not received a response at the time of publication.
The mental health issues faced by U.S. Navy service members are well known. A study last year examined the specific stress factors that sailors face during deployments and found that among the most common were loud noises, lack of rest, and insufficient access to psychological and physical medical care. The researchers surveyed sailors who were on deployment and found that nearly half of them complained about inadequate support in coping with stress at sea. The study concluded that “given the high rate of suicides among service members, particularly in the Navy, urgent measures are needed to improve access to medical care on ships.”
