Acting United States Navy Secretary Hung Cao has confirmed that there have been “eight suicide attempts” by personnel assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group posted in the Middle East – at least two by jumping overboard – during their deployment there.
asserted
Cao → act → deployment
In a letter to US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand on Tuesday, Cao wrote about quality of life on the fleet and morale among personnel.
asserted
Cao → write → personnel
He was responding on behalf of US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to her questions about reports of crew members attempting to harm themselves.
asserted
members → respond → themselves
Recommended Stories
list of 3 items- list 1 of 3Trump’s war on Stars and Stripes: Why has military newspaper chief quit?
- list 2 of 3Editor of US newspaper Stars and Stripes reportedly fired under Trump
- list 3 of
uncertain
chief → quit → Trump
Stripes journalists sue Trump administration for censorship
asserted
journalists → sue → censorship
While Cao said no service members had died by suicide during the deployment, there had been attempts to jump overboard.
asserted
members → say → deployment
“This includes the Lincoln crew and sailors from the carrier airwing, strike group and destroyer squadron staff, escorting destroyers and all embarked aviation squadrons,” the letter read.
asserted
letter → include → destroyers
Here’s what we know:
asserted
we → ’ → what
It is a nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carrier that the Navy has referred to as one of the “largest warships in the world”.
asserted
Navy → power → world
Nimitz-class vessels include 10 nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in the US arsenal.
asserted
vessels → include → arsenal
The carrier, which set off from California in November 2025 for a routine deployment to the South China Sea, was rerouted in January to the US Central Command (CENTCOM) region in the Middle East because of escalating tensions with Iran.
asserted
which → set → Iran
Since the US-Israel war on Iran broke out at the end of February, the USS Abraham Lincoln has engaged in combat efforts and helped enforce the US naval blockade on Iranian ports.
asserted
Lincoln → break → ports
The roughly 5,000-strong crew on board the Lincoln were at sea for 286 days before finally disembarking in Thailand on September 1, setting a record for the longest deployment.
asserted
crew → disembark → deployment
Besides one short port stop last December, the crew had no land breaks in that time.
asserted
crew → have → time
US media reports have tied ship supply shortages to Iranian attacks on US military sites in the Middle East, notably the heavy damage inflicted on the naval base in Bahrain in the early days of the war.
asserted
reports → tie → war
The navy was reportedly forced to use the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia instead as its main supply hub, some 3,540km (2,200 miles) from where the USS Lincoln was operating in the Gulf.
uncertain
Lincoln → force → Gulf
According to its website, Naval Support Activity Bahrain provided “services and support to ships at sea, remote sites throughout the region, and military and civilian personnel living in Bahrain”.
uncertain
Bahrain → accord → Bahrain
Last month, experts told Al Jazeera that the lack of port stops during the ongoing conflict was a major issue for the carrier.
asserted
lack → tell → carrier
“Ships need maintenance, particularly ships that are extremely complicated with very advanced weapon systems such as nuclear-powered carriers with very advanced systems, and there are things that you cannot do in terms of maintenance under way,” Harlan Ullman, a retired senior naval officer and chairman of the strategic advisory firm Killowen Group, said.
asserted
Ullman → need → firm
Extended deployments “erode the readiness and capability of that ship the longer it’s at sea, and it lacks the ability to repair and extend maintenance”, he added.
asserted
he → erode → maintenance
Following media reports of poor levels of morale on board, the USS George Washington was diverted from the Pacific to replace the carrier last month.
asserted
Washington → follow → carrier
What does Cao’s letter say?
asserted
letter → say → What
“Since the beginning of Lincoln’s deployment, there have been a total of eight suicide attempts across the strike group,” Cao wrote.
asserted
Cao → write → group
In particular, he said one sailor assigned to the air wing jumped overboard in early August but was “quickly recovered”, treated by the medical department and “transferred off ship for follow-on care”.
asserted
sailor → say → care
“Additionally, one sailor attempted to go overboard in March and was stopped by his shipmates.
asserted
sailor → attempt → shipmates
That sailor was also provided with immediate medical care and subsequently returned to homeport,” the letter added.
asserted
letter → provide → homeport
Cao said the carrier had been deployed with various mental health resources, including one psychologist, three behavioural health technicians, one clinical social worker, one embedded integrated prevention counsellor, one facility dog, and five chaplains.
asserted
carrier → say → psychologist
Cao also acknowledged resupply limitations, however, as the vessel was participating in “major combat operations”, which meant that the number of main course options served during meal times was reduced from two to one.
asserted
number → acknowledge → one
He said the Navy prioritised the delivery of “hygiene products, fresh provisions and critical repair parts”, adding that while the ship experienced plumbing issues earlier in its deployment, the shipboard engineering team had completed repairs and “portable water supply remains safe and tested daily”.
asserted
supply → say → repairs
The Navy chief added that a biparitsan Congressional Delegation was in the “planning stages” of an on-board visit to the carrier once it returns to the US.
asserted
it → add → US
Before Cao’s letter, a crew member on board the carrier told CNN that morale on the vessel was very low, with suicidal ideation repeatedly heard among crew members.
asserted
ideation → tell → members
Last month, the Navy Times, which covers US military news, spoke to the wife of a sailor who, she said, had attempted to jump off the vessel, saying he was “burnt out”.
asserted
he → cover → vessel
According to the US news outlet, MSNOW, families of sailors had also attended a meeting with Cao the same month to express their concerns over the sailors’ mental health, exhaustion, and safety on board.
uncertain
families → accord → board
It also reported separately that families told it, on condition of anonymity, that their relatives and spouses on board had described mouldy showers and no hot water for showering for weeks.
asserted
relatives → report → weeks
Stars and Stripes, a US military news organisation, also reported last month that a spouse told the meeting with Cao that she had received a message from her husband saying “he hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow.”
asserted
he → report → husband
The same month – and following that reporting – the Pentagon fired the Stars and Stripes editor-in-chief and its Middle East reporter.
Since beginning his second term in January 2025, US President Donald Trump has accused news outlets of publishing and broadcasting “fake news”.
Last week, he announced that CNN, Politico and MSNOW would be banned from reporting from the White House.
asserted
CNN → follow → House
On Thursday, US federal judge Timothy Kelly ordered the Trump administration to reinstate press passes after finding that the revocation was done without “constitutionally adequate due process”.
asserted
revocation → order → process
Following reports of burnout and struggling mental health on the USS Abraham Lincoln, CENTCOM chief Brad Cooper visited the sailors on the ship last month.
asserted
Cooper → follow → ship
Cooper said in a statement afterwards that the team were “standing tall with immense, justified pride”, adding that “history will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era.”
Last month, Hegseth said reports about low morale and poor conditions on the ship had been “completely misrepresented”.
“We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment.
asserted
we → say → moment
Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody,” Hegseth told reporters during a visit to Panama.
asserted
Hegseth → have → Panama
…and 4 more, not listed.
The Aporia
