Lawmakers in the United States have raised the alarm over reports of dire conditions on an aircraft carrier deployed to the Middle East amid the US-Israel war with Iran, including accounts of sailors trying to jump overboard.
The response has included a direct appeal to Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth, asking for further information about conditions on board the USS Abraham Lincoln and demanding that a bipartisan congressional delegation be allowed to visit the ship.
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In a letter to Hegseth, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal noted that the aircraft carrier, with more than 5,000 US sailors and Marines, has been “continuously at sea for a record length of nearly seven months”. That surpasses any previous deployment of a US aircraft carrier without a port stop.
Blumenthal noted that the vessel’s mission was meant to end in May but has been repeatedly extended amid the war on Iran. The conflict remains in a state of grinding limbo, with a memorandum of understanding to end the fighting largely defunct and further diplomatic efforts stalled.
He pointed to reports of deteriorating mental health on board, as well as shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, an increase in safety incidents, and even disruptions to mail services, through which those on board receive care packages.
“These reports warrant immediate attention, but they also raise a broader question: whether the Navy can sustain the operational tempo now being demanded of its carrier force, particularly as this administration repeatedly commits US forces to conflicts of its own choosing and increasingly relies on aircraft carriers to sustain those operations,” Blumenthal wrote.
In a list of questions, the senator asked for a clear end date for the mission, how the navy is measuring mental health metrics, and how the deployment fits into broader goals.
Senator Ruben Gallego, also a Democrat, went further, saying the navy “must allow a bipartisan Congressional Delegation to visit the USS Lincoln to conduct an oversight investigation into this horrible situation”.
Such delegations, said Gallego, “have visited war zones to inspect the conditions of our troops. There is no reason to be denied access.”
Senator Mark Kelly, a former naval officer and astronaut, also called the reports of sailors attempting to jump into the sea “disturbing”.
“Long deployments are hard. They are a lot harder when the mission isn’t well defined and there is no end in sight,” he said in a post on X, along with a link to military mental health resources.
Reports of attempting to jump ship
The increased attention on the USS Abraham Lincoln comes amid two reports by the Navy Times and Stars and Stripes, two publications that closely follow military affairs.
They cited several family members of military personnel on the vessel who reported declining mental health and morale, and cases of suicidal ideation from loved ones.
The Navy Times spoke on the record with the wife of one sailor, identified as Annabelle Loma, who said he had attempted to jump overboard amid what she described as severe burnout.
Another woman, identified as Maria Rodriguez, said her husband told her he had intervened in a separate instance of a shipmate “preparing to go overboard”.
Stars and Stripes said the issue was raised during a town hall meeting last week with acting secretary of the navy, Hung Cao, in San Diego, from where the USS Lincoln had last departed in November 2025.
On Thursday, CNN reported a sailor went overboard last month and was quickly rescued. The report, citing a US official, said the circumstances of the incident were not clear.
Hegseth, meanwhile, said reports of poor conditions were “completely misrepresented”.
“We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment,” Hegseth told reporters from Panama on Thursday.
“Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody,” he added. “What they do in those high seas in those austere conditions with less port calls — it’s incredible.”
The navy did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment. However, it told Stars and Stripes its “leadership is continuously conducting assessments to monitor and sustain the psychological readiness of every sailor”.
