Lincoln passes 250 days at sea, sets modern carrier record
President Donald Trump on Monday dismissed reporting on deteriorating conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, telling a CNN reporter at a White House press availability to “be quiet” and labeling coverage of the carrier’s conditions as “fake news.”
Trump claimed he had received third-hand reports that the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is “beautifully maintained” despite extensive accounts of supply shortages, plumbing problems and crew mental-health struggles during the carrier’s record-length deployment to the Strait of Hormuz.
“The Lincoln has been out there for a period of time — a good period of time — but over the years, we’ve had them out there much longer,” Trump said. He described an unspecified weekend exchange with what he called a retired admiral, whom he did not name, who told him that people aboard the ship describe it as “beautifully maintained and beautifully taken care of.”
“And other people went out and they found out that to be true,” Trump said. “It was fake news reporting from CNN.” The president did not identify the “other people” he claimed had verified the admiral’s account.
The Lincoln left San Diego on 21 November 2025 and has now spent more than 250 days at sea without a port call, setting a modern record for the longest continuous deployment of a U.S. aircraft carrier. The carrier departed for what was originally a Pacific deployment but was redirected to the Middle East after the U.S.-Israel war with Iran began. It has since participated in operations against Iranian targets and a U.S. blockade of Iranian ports during the conflict.
The Navy Times and Stars and Stripes — the latter now under increased Pentagon oversight as a defense publication — have largely confirmed reports of poor conditions aboard the carrier. The publications described shortages of supplies and water, plumbing problems, and several incidents in which sailors attempted to leap from the ship. The reports prompted Democratic lawmakers to demand answers from the Pentagon.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has separately rejected the conditions reports, calling them “completely misrepresented” earlier this month. The Navy has said the ship is not experiencing an uptick in mental-health issues, though Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao acknowledged that “a small number of mental-health cases were treated with no loss of life.”
Naval families with loved ones deployed aboard U.S. warships during the Iran conflict have reacted angrily to the dismissals from Trump and Hegseth. The Guardian spoke with three families who described mounting alarm over the physical and mental stresses bearing down on their relatives.
“I grew up in a United States where you have to be very respectful of the military, as they’re making the ultimate sacrifice and protecting their country, and now you have the commander-in-chief and defense secretary dismissing their experiences and calling them liars,” said the sister of one Lincoln crew member, who spoke anonymously for fear of retribution. “I’m really angry.”
The Lincoln’s deployment was originally scheduled to end in May but has been extended multiple times amid the war. The USS George Washington is now transiting toward the Middle East to replace the carrier strike group, a rotation that would leave the Pacific without a U.S. carrier presence for an unspecified period.
MSI previously reported that Senate Democrats had demanded answers from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over conditions aboard the Lincoln, and that the Navy Times and Stars and Stripes had detailed multiple jump-overboard attempts by sailors during the carrier’s record deployment.