Rancid food, sewage flooding into the halls, and sailors reportedly throwing themselves overboard to escape the fetid conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has languished for over 250 days in the Middle Eastern seas without a return to port.
Democrats are now calling for an investigation into the growing mental health and morality crisis among the 5,000 servicemembers aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, which is nearing a year-long deployment, including over 40 continuous days of combat operations. The Abraham Lincoln is deployed as part of the American counter-blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, as President Donald Trump continues his war against Iran.
Sailors aboard the vessel have reported food and water shortage, sewage overflows that spills into the ship’s inner corridors, mold, a lack of adequate laundry facilities, and dwindling access to basic hygiene supplies. In short, a smelly boat drifting about in one of the hottest regions of the planet, with no port call in sight, fighting a pointless war for a confused president.
In April, USA Today obtained photos of some of the meals being served aboard the Abraham Lincoln. A small scoop of mystery meat and some flour tortillas, mushy carrots, a slice of what appears to be slate gray ham, and a single meat patty. The meals served at Fyre Festival look Michelin-star worthy by comparison.
Reports of floundering morale have been circulating for months, and became even more concerning after multiple outlets reported on repeat instances of sailors attempting to jump overboard. In several incidents described to The Navy Times in a report published this week, other sailors managed to stop the servicemember trying to jump before they went over, but at least one of them has been placed in a medical hold after successfully jumping off of the ship.
The Navy and Department of Defense have denied any issues aboard the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln.
Lawmakers, already concerned about the aimlessness of the protracted, unauthorized war and its ballooning cost, have begun to speak out.
“There have been widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns, and disruptions in the mail system, which have caused many care packages in route to the ship to be lost in transit for months,” Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) — a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee — wrote in a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“These reports warrant immediate attention, but they also raise a broader question: whether the Navy can sustain the operational tempo now being demanded of its carrier force, particularly as this Administration repeatedly commits U.S. forces to conflicts of its own choosing and increasingly relies on aircraft carriers to sustain those operations,” he added.
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), himself a former Naval officer, wrote on social media that “the reports from the USS Abraham Lincoln about multiple sailors attempting to jump into the sea are disturbing. Long deployments are hard. They are a lot harder when the mission isn’t well defined and there is no end in sight.” Kelly included a link to military mental health resources in his post.
Fellow Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego called publicly for “a bipartisan Congressional Delegation to visit the USS Abraham Lincoln to conduct oversight investigation into this horrible situation.”
“CODELs have visited war zones to inspect the conditions of our troops. There is no reason to be denied access,” he added.
The Navy has dismissed the reports, telling CNN: “We have not observed an increase in suicidal ideations or attempts aboard the ship. We take every service member’s well-being seriously and have religious, medical and mental health professionals available to assess and address concerns as they arise.”
It’s not yet clear when the ship will return. The “blockade” of the Strait of Hormuz is a redundancy given that Iran itself has refused to let ships transit through the critical oil shipping route since Trump began his war in late February. Over a dozen servicemembers have been killed over the course of the conflict. But even as aircraft carriers like the Abraham Lincoln suffer through justifiably mutinous conditions, the president doesn’t seem to have much desire to pump the brakes.
“From this point forward, any time the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by Missile, Rocket, Drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy ONE BRIDGE OR POWER PLANT, including those located next to, or in, the Capital City of Tehran,” Trump wrote on Truth Social in late July.
Sailors can’t get adequate food and accommodations, but it apparently isn’t impacting Trump’s commitment to wasting military resources on his pointless war in the Middle East.
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