▶ Watch Video: Should people be concerned about conditions aboard the USS Lincoln?
The USS Abraham Lincoln is leaving the Middle East, and its sailors and Marines are heading back home after their nine-month deployment, a U.S. official confirmed to CBS News on Thursday.
The Japan-based USS George Washington, another U.S. aircraft carrier, has arrived in the Middle East to replace the USS Lincoln. Family members have voiced worries about deteriorating mental health conditions aboard the ship, as well as sanitary conditions and food shortages.
The USS Abraham Lincoln and its roughly 5,000 crew members left San Diego on Nov. 21. The war with Iran, which began in February, extended the mission and intensified their workload. The ship has served as a launch point for thousands of aircraft flights supporting the strikes.
Family members’ concerns, as articulated in the Military Times and Stars and Stripes, have raised alarm bells on Capitol Hill. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and President Trump sought to dismiss those concerns, with Mr. Trump saying the ship hadn’t been deployed long enough. Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao said media coverage of the conditions has been “dishonest.”
U.S. Central Command Adm. Brad Cooper tried to address complaints by visiting the USS Abraham Lincoln over the weekend. Cooper said deployment at sea is “uniquely challenging and tough, and every single one of us, including me, reacts to stressors in different ways.”
“I’ve long believed that mental health is another aspect of individual health and requires our attention just like physical health and spiritual health,” Cooper said, although he didn’t confirm any specific issues.
The Navy said it hasn’t seen an increase in reported suicide attempts or suicidal ideation on board. It is investigating an Aug. 3 incident in which a sailor fell overboard and was recovered, the Navy said.
Jefferson Kelley, whose son Jackson is aboard the Lincoln on his first deployment, was eager for his son’s return.
“What’s going through my mind as a parent is that need to want to be there, to want to be there for your child,” Kelley told CBS News last week. “I would get on a plane or helicopter tonight to get shipped out to the Lincoln if it meant bringing him home to his mom and his siblings and his family.”
The carrier ship may take roughly three weeks to return to San Diego.