The strain aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln has become so severe that several sailors have reportedly tried to jump overboard as the aircraft carrier remains at sea in the Middle East after nearly nine months of continuous deployment.
Reports by the Navy Times and Stars and Stripes describe worsening mental health conditions aboard the ship, where about 5,000 sailors and Marines have spent roughly 250 consecutive days at sea without a port call, a modern-era record for a U.S. aircraft carrier.
Families of some of the sailors met Navy officials in San Diego last week to voice their concerns.
One woman among roughly 200 people at the meeting said her husband had texted her that same day saying he “hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow.”
Annabel Luma told the Navy Times that her husband tried to jump into the water after learning that his deployment at sea had once again been extended.
“He’s scared,” she said. “He thinks he’s going to get kicked out of the military in disgrace just because he’s worn down, and a 13-year career is being destroyed just like that. It’s not fair, it’s not right. That’s not what he should be worrying about right now.”
Natalie Oliverio, the journalist behind the Navy Times report, later told CNN that Luma had not heard from Navy representatives for weeks and remained deeply concerned about her husband’s condition.
The Navy Times also cited the wife of another service member aboard the Lincoln who said her husband had attempted to jump into the sea.
The USS Abraham Lincoln left San Diego on November 21, 2025, originally bound for the Pacific but was redirected to the Middle East after the war with Iran began.
Two F/A-18F fighter jets prepare to take off from the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea
(Photo: Daniel KIMMELMAN / US NAVY / AFP)
Since then, its roughly 5,000 personnel have had only two days ashore, one in Guam in December and another in Oman in July.
The deployment was originally expected to end in May but has been extended several times during the ongoing war.
By April, complaints about conditions aboard the carrier were already spreading publicly. Images shared on social media showed what appeared to be severely rationed, poor-quality meals, while reports described water shortages, moldy showers and broken washing machines.
The current crisis comes after another carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, earlier this year broke the previous record for the longest aircraft carrier deployment since the Vietnam War.
A fire in the Ford’s laundry compartment in March took crews about 30 hours to extinguish, and roughly 600 sailors temporarily lost access to their berths because of the damage.
On the Lincoln, lawmakers are now demanding answers about both the length of the deployment and conditions aboard the ship.
Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, wrote to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth expressing “serious concern” over the deployment.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth
(Photo: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
“Shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing problems, deteriorating mental health, concerns about shipboard safety” have all been reported, Blumenthal wrote, along with disruptions to the mail system that allegedly caused packages bound for the ship to go missing for months.
Rep. Mike Levin, a California Democrat, described conditions aboard the carrier in similarly stark terms.
“They are using moldy showers and broken toilets, enduring long periods without hot water, a meal that consisted of half a cup of rice and two tortillas. No soap, deodorant or toothpaste,” he said.
After Hegseth dismissed the reports as “more fake news,” Levin responded sharply.
“These men and women went to serve their country,” he said. “The least their country owes them is hot water, working toilets and a real meal. Hegseth can’t even manage that, and he has the nerve to look their family members in the eye and call them liars.”
The U.S. Navy more broadly has been grappling with burnout among sailors and naval aviation personnel, from pilots to maintenance crews, with many leaving the service.
(Photo: AFP PHOTO / US NAVY and US CENTRAL COMMAND / HANDOUT)
A study conducted last year by the University of Oxford examined stress factors faced by sailors on deployment and found that among the most common were excessive noise, insufficient rest and inadequate physical and mental health care.
Nearly half of those surveyed said they were not receiving enough help managing stress at sea.
The researchers concluded that, given the high suicide rates among military personnel, including within the Navy, there was an urgent need to improve access to health services aboard ships.
At the meeting with families in San Diego, Vice Adm. Joseph Cahill, commander of Naval Surface Forces, acknowledged the growing concern.
“We hear you loud and clear about the impact this is having on families, on service members and on our ability to preserve the health of our force over the long term,” he said.