Senators Raise Alarm Over Conditions Aboard USS Abraham Lincoln

Concerns are mounting over the prolonged deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln, as Democratic senators raise questions about the living conditions and well-being of its crew after more than eight and a half months at sea.

The San Diego-based aircraft carrier, which has around 5,000 sailors aboard, is supporting US military operations in the Middle East amid the war with Iran.

In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Hung Cao, the acting Navy secretary, Senator Richard Blumenthal, Democrat of Connecticut, listed several reported problems aboard the carrier, the New York Times reports.

“There have been widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns and disruptions in the mail system, which have caused many care packages in route to the ship to be lost in transit for months,” he wrote about the problems, many of which were reported earlier by Navy Times and Stars and Stripes.

Blumenthal also said the Trump administration had kept aircraft carriers at sea for much longer than usual during its pressure campaign against Venezuela and its war with Iran.

Senator Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona, said on social media on Wednesday that he was seeking an overnight visit to the Lincoln by a bipartisan group of lawmakers.

“Unlike Donald Trump, I’ve seen active duty,” said Mr. Gallego, who served in combat as a Marine. “The way he’s treating our service members as he carries out this illegal war is not just disgusting; it’s dangerous.”

The Navy is sending the USS George Washington to the Middle East to relieve the Lincoln, according to a US official who spoke anonymously because they were not authorised to discuss ship schedules publicly. The George Washington recently passed through the Strait of Malacca, heading west, according to another US official.

Hegseth rejected reports of poor conditions aboard the Lincoln.

“We make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment,” he told reporters during a visit to Panama on Thursday. “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.”

The Lincoln has faced intense operational demands during its deployment. The carrier had to fend off attacks from Iran during the early stages of the war.

“Iran shot hundreds and hundreds of missiles and one-way attack drones at our aircraft carrier,” Mr. Hegseth told reporters at the Pentagon on April 8. “Every single one of those shots, easily shot down miles and miles away from the Abe Lincoln.”

The carrier has also helped enforce a US blockade of Iranian ports. The first blockade ran from April 13 until a cease-fire agreement was announced in mid-June, before resuming on July 15.

During the first blockade, US Central Command said its forces disabled nine “noncompliant” vessels through gunfire and missile attacks and “redirected” 135 ships that eventually complied with the blockade order.

Since the blockade resumed, Central Command said in its latest update on August 9 that 55 commercial vessels had been redirected, two disabled and two boarded to “ensure compliance.”

The Lincoln is not the only US carrier to face an extended deployment. The USS George H.W. Bush was deployed on March 31 and is already operating in the Middle East.

The Navy’s newest carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, spent 326 days deployed before returning home in May, setting a record for the longest carrier deployment since the Vietnam War. During its deployment, the ship experienced a fire, food and mail shortages, as well as mechanical problems.

Longer deployments can place pressure on both personnel and equipment. Constant operations can cause equipment to break down when replacement parts are not readily available, while extended periods at sea can affect morale.

Retired Navy Vice Admiral Mike Franken said prolonged deployments can also affect the Navy’s readiness and maintenance schedules.

“The Navy has a lot of flexibility to react to contingency operations, but as those deployments get extended and demand more underway time outside of normal schedules, readiness and maintenance suffer,” Mike Franken, a retired Navy vice admiral, said in an interview. “We just don’t have the ability to recover from that quickly. It will take years.”

Franken also warned that repeatedly extending carrier deployments could eventually reduce the Navy’s ability to use its limited number of aircraft carriers for future combat operations.

“I guarantee you that the first two years of the Trump administration will definitely affect the next two years of the Trump administration,” he said.