Eight Lincoln crew attempted suicide during deployment, navy confirms
The USS Abraham Lincoln, the US Navy carrier that spent more than 260 consecutive days at sea without a port visit, is heading home to San Diego with a presidential unit citation and renewed public scrutiny over conditions during its record deployment.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited the carrier on Wednesday and told the roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard that their deployment “wasn’t easy,” acknowledging that he personally signed two orders extending the mission.
“I never say this lightly, but I’m the one who signed that orders go twice to extend you,” Hegseth told the crew. “I plead guilty.”
Hegseth used the visit to announce that the carrier and its strike group would receive the presidential unit citation, which the US military confers on units of the armed forces “for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy.” He framed the deployment as a historic achievement.
“The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group did what no other carrier strike group has ever done,” Hegseth declared. “We asked you to do more, and you know what you did? You did more. And it wasn’t easy, and there wasn’t easy resupply.”
The Lincoln left San Diego in November 2025, initially bound for the Pacific and expected to return in the spring. The carrier was redirected to the Middle East in late February, after the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran, to support US operations in the region. Its deployment was extended as the war disrupted regional resupply routes and traditional hubs.
Adm. Brad Cooper, who heads US Central Command, described the deployment as “one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era.”
The visit came as the carrier prepares to arrive in San Diego later this week. It follows months of reporting on deteriorating conditions aboard the ship, including shortages of food and basic supplies, declining mental health and morale, and reports that two crew members attempted to jump overboard. The reporting drew concern from military health experts, veterans and families of sailors, and outrage from Democratic lawmakers, several of whom demanded more information from the Pentagon. Senior Trump administration officials dismissed those reports during the summer. Hegseth claimed they “completely misrepresented” the reality on board.
Asked in August whether the deployment had dragged on too long, President Donald Trump responded, “Not nearly long enough” — a remark that upset some naval families.
New disclosures have deepened the scrutiny in recent weeks. Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao acknowledged last month that eight service members from the Lincoln and its strike group attempted suicide during the deployment. Cao confirmed the figure in response to questions from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat.
As Hegseth delivered his remarks, Gillibrand criticized the visit, stating that “our service members deserve better than a photo-op. They deserve real accountability for this administration’s failures.”
Other Democratic lawmakers have requested that Navy leaders provide an accounting of the eight suicide attempts and detail the steps the service will take to “protect sailors’ mental health and wellbeing during future extended deployments.”
The Lincoln was relieved from its deployment later in August, when the USS George Washington aircraft carrier arrived in the Middle East to take its place. In recent days, a third carrier, the USS Theodore Roosevelt, has been dispatched to the region.
Navy officials have said they are taking steps to prevent similar problems during future deployments, including loading the Roosevelt with additional supplies and improving communication with families.
Hegseth also used his remarks Wednesday to attack what he called “a few folks in the media,” whom he accused of trying to “turn” the Lincoln’s deployment “into some sort of symbol of dysfunction, or a symbol of low morale or a symbol of a failed mission.” Hegseth has pledged to restore what he calls the “warrior ethos” to the US military.