USS Lincoln Strike Group: Navy Confirms Eight Suicide Attempts

The United States Navy confirmed this week that eight sailors attempted suicide during the USS Lincoln carrier strike group's extended deployment in support of the Iran war, a voyage that set a modern record for consecutive days at sea. Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao gave the figure in a letter to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, dated September 22 and obtained by the Associated Press. He said no sailor died during the deployment.

"Since the beginning of LINCOLN's deployment, there have been a total of eight suicide attempts across the strike group," Cao wrote. According to the letter, the count was not limited to the carrier itself. It includes the Lincoln crew, the carrier air wing, strike group and destroyer squadron staffs, escorting destroyers and the embarked aviation squadrons. Cao added: "There have been no suicides on board during this deployment."

A defense official told CBS News that two of the attempts took place while the strike group was actively engaged in combat operations against Iran, OAF Nation reported.

A record-setting deployment

The USS Lincoln left its San Diego homeport in November and arrived in the Middle East in January for operations in the Iran war, including enforcement of a naval blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz. When the carrier reached Thailand in early September, it had been deployed for 286 days, including 264 consecutive days at sea without a port call, according to the Associated Press.

Over the summer, sailors and their families reported deteriorating mental health, food shortages, contaminated water and disrupted mail service aboard the carrier. Lawmakers from both parties questioned Pentagon officials about the strain of a deployment that kept a crew of thousands at sea for the better part of a year.

President Donald Trump weighed in by calling the nearly nine months at sea a "good period of time." He said a retired admiral he had spoken with told him sailors had been kept at sea for much longer stretches in years past, though he did not name the admiral. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said reports about conditions aboard the Lincoln were "completely misrepresented."

Admiral Brad Cooper, commander of United States Central Command, said in a published statement that the Lincoln had among the fewest mental health-related cases of the Navy's 11 aircraft carriers and praised the crew's "awe-inspiring" work, The National News Desk reported.

Lawmakers press for answers

Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had asked the Navy in August about morale, mental health and living conditions aboard the Lincoln after family members raised concerns. In a statement responding to Cao's letter, she said what Trump and Hegseth had dismissed as "fake news" turned out to be "serious and deteriorating conditions" for service members, and argued that an administration able to spend freely on military operations owed the same care to the troops carrying them out.

California lawmakers have also asked for an independent review by the Pentagon's inspector general of conditions aboard the ship during the deployment, according to Informed Clearly.

The Navy continues to enforce the blockade on Iranian ports, and the administration has offered no timeline for winding down the war. Long carrier deployments put sustained strain on crews and ships, the Associated Press noted in its reporting on the disclosure. The strain comes as allies also voice warnings about the wider security climate: Denmark recently warned that a limited Russian strike against a NATO country cannot be ruled out, as genznewz reported.

The Lincoln heads home

The USS George Washington arrived in the Middle East in August to relieve the Lincoln, which then made a port call in Thailand for the USS Lincoln's first shore leave in months. The Lincoln's commanding officer, Captain Dan Keeler, said then that the ship would head home to California soon but might make further supply stops. He declined to give an exact return date.

Cao's letter also described the care the Navy said it had in place aboard the ship: five chaplains and multiple mental health professionals were embarked to cover the spiritual and emotional needs of the crew, he wrote.

If you or someone you know is struggling, help is available: in the United States and Canada, the suicide and crisis lifeline can be reached at 988.