CA: USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN MENTAL HEALTH CONCERNS
(CNN) — A sailor went overboard earlier this month off of the USS Abraham Lincoln, three US officials told CNN, amid reports of worsening mental health for crew members on the ship during an extended deployment for the Iran war.
The sailor was rescued within an hour, according to one of the officials, and was medically evaluated. A different official said that the sailor had gone overboard wearing a life vest and was not injured, adding that the Navy considered the incident a mental health episode.
The sailor had been assigned to an air wing on the ship, the third official said, and was recovered “by an air wing search and rescue helicopter, treated by Abraham Lincoln’s medical department, and transferred off ship for follow-on care.”
One of the officials described the seas as rough and specified that the incident had occurred on August 3.
The incident of the sailor going overboard, which has not been previously reported, adds to a growing list of concerns about the crew on the ship. Several Democratic lawmakers are calling for answers after concerns were raised by families of sailors aboard Lincoln about the deteriorating living conditions and worsening mental health during the ship’s record-breaking deployment.
Since the Lincoln left its home port of San Diego last November, the aircraft carrier has been deployed for more than 250 days after being redirected to the Middle East to support US operations in the war with Iran, now entering its sixth month. With more than 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard, it has not made a port call in more than 200 days, setting a modern-day record for consecutive days at sea, according to Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
The USS George Washington carrier group, which finished a port visit in Vietnam on August 5, is currently headed to the Middle East to replace the Lincoln, a separate US official told CNN. The official said that the swap had been previously planned. It was not immediately clear when the Washington would arrive.
News outlets Stars and Stripes and the Navy Times reported this week that there had been multiple attempts by crew members to jump overboard, citing interviews with sailors and families of those on board who described the impacts of the lengthy deployment.
On Wednesday, Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut and a member of the Armed Services Committee, wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Acting Secretary of the Navy to express “serious concern” about the increasing length of deployments and demand answers about living conditions aboard the carrier.
“There have been widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns,” aboard the ship, he said in the letter, as well as “disruptions in the mail system, which have caused many care packages in route to the ship to be lost in transit for months.”
In a statement to CNN, the US Navy said, “We have not observed an increase in suicidal ideations or attempts aboard the ship. We take every service member’s well-being seriously and have religious, medical and mental health professionals available to assess and address concerns as they arise.”
The first US official said that the Navy’s internal tracking of reports of suicidal ideation on the ship had gone down in recent months, and that the service does not believe there is a correlation between length of deployment and thoughts of self harm.
According to both the Navy Times and Stars and Stripes, around 200 family members of Lincoln crew members voiced concerns over mental health and safety conditions to Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao and other senior officials during town hall meetings last Thursday in San Diego.
During the town hall, a spouse tearfully told officials that she received a message that same day from her husband saying “he hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow,” Stars and Stripes reported, citing one of the attendees.
Among the other concerns raised were reports of a lack of supplies, food shortages, water contamination and mail system disruptions, according to MS NOW, which reviewed audio and video recordings of the meeting.
In one meeting, Vice Adm. Joseph Cahill, commander of Naval Surface Forces, acknowledged the strain on sailors and their families, according to MS NOW, telling families: “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 forces’ health.”
On Thursday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said that conditions on the Lincoln had been “completely misrepresented” while talking to reporters on a trip to Central America, though he did not specify his concerns with the reporting.
“We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment,” he said. “Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody. What they do in those high seas in those austere conditions with less port calls — it’s incredible.”
Democratic Rep. Mike Levin of California referenced the meeting in a post on X Friday, saying families described “moldy showers, broken toilets, no hot water for weeks, meals that came down to half a cup of rice and two tortillas.”
“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,” he wrote.
In its report released Tuesday, Stars and Stripes said its interviews with active-duty sailors and family members, as well as “dozens of public social media comments and posts” by crew, described sailors “struggling with exhaustion and declining morale, including reports of suicidal thoughts and at least one instance where a crew member was prevented from jumping overboard.”
The Navy Times also quoted the wife of one serviceman aboard the Lincoln who said her husband had tried to jump overboard during the current deployment.
“He’s scared,” Annabelle Loma told the Navy 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 right. That’s not what he should be worrying about right now.”
The Navy Times also spoke to the wife of another sailor who told her he had prevented a fellow sailor from jumping overboard in a separate incident.
In an interview with CNN, the journalist who wrote the Navy Times’ report, Natalie Oliverio, said Loma had not heard from Navy representatives in weeks and is “extremely worried and concerned about how her husband is actually doing.”
Oliverio said Loma faces the stresses of having a spouse deployed while raising their three little children, “so not being able to have answers or direction is really challenging right now for her especially.”
Around a month before the reports of service members jumping overboard, CNN’s Pamela Brown spoke to those aboard the aircraft carrier about low morale.
One service member said in July morale was “pretty low” because they hadn’t stepped off the ship in months. “It’s hard on your mental state… It takes a toll on you.”
Massachusetts’ Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton, a Marine veteran and member of the House Armed Services Committee, described the reports as “horrific” in an interview with CNN’s Laura Coates and said his committee would be conducting an investigation.
“Sadly I’m not surprised. We have a president, a Commander-in-Chief, who’s made fun of troops for mental health issues. We have a secretary of defense who’s more focused on testosterone tests than actually keeping our troops alive,” he told CNN.
“It’s really hard to be excited about that mission (the war with Iran). There’s no one who believes in it right now, and that’s got to be one of the toughest tolls on our troops,” he said.
‘Tomorrow’s readiness crisis’
A July CNN poll found a record-high 73% of US adults say that President Donald Trump hasn’t paid enough attention to the country’s most important problems, and 67% think Trump’s decisions about military action in Iran have hurt the US.
Armen Kurdian, a retired US Navy Captain who served aboard the Lincoln, told CNN affiliate KFMB, “It’s not uncommon that a strike group experiences somebody wanting to jump overboard or somebody wanting to commit suicide during a deployment.”
“It doesn’t happen every day obviously, but it does happen. So the fact that it’s happening during this deployment is not surprising,” Kurdian said.
In his letter to the Pentagon, Blumenthal said he had “serious concerns about the increasing length of Carrier Strike Group deployments.”
“If the Administration intends to maintain a prolonged military campaign or an elevated carrier presence in the region, it must explain how it intends to ensure today’s operational requirements do not create tomorrow’s readiness crisis,” he wrote, referencing the possibility of additional US naval forces being deployed to the region.
Earlier this year, the USS Gerald R. Ford broke the record for the longest deployment for an aircraft carrier since the Vietnam War – an extended deployment that challenged morale amid an intense few months of combat.
In March, a fire broke out in the ship’s laundry department, taking the crew 30 hours to put out. No sailors were injured, but roughly 600 lost access to their bunks due to the damage.
As CNN reported at the time, the Navy as a whole faces issues with sailor burnout, according to multiple sources familiar with internal Navy discussions about the issue. Navy aviation personnel, from pilots to maintainers, are leaving the service at a high rate, according to those sources.
Officials at Thursday’s meetings with Lincoln crew family members would not say when the carrier would return home, citing operational security, spouses told the Stars and Stripes.
“The men and women aboard the Lincoln have answered the call to serve their country,” Blumenthal wrote in his letter to the Pentagon.
“The Department owes them not only adequate supplies, maintenance, and support during this deployment.”
This story and headline have been updated to specify the date when the sailor went overboard off the USS Abraham Lincoln after sources provided clarification.
This story has been updated with additional information.
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