Defense Secretary Denies Sailors Jumping from USS Abraham Lincoln

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has pushed back against stories claiming sailors on the USS Abraham Lincoln are so miserable they are jumping overboard from their ship. He called these accounts completely misrepresented. The aircraft carrier holds roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines who have been at sea for nearly nine months since deployment began November 21. They have not visited a port in more than 240 days.

They were supposed to return home in May. Authorities extended the mission indefinitely because of the war with Iran. The stretch has reportedly left many burnt out, and some chose to jump overboard, according to their loved ones. During an interview on Newsmax Thursday, Hegseth insisted that every ship, crew, and captain gets everything they need at every moment.

The Defense Department confirmed a sailor went overboard earlier this month but was rescued within an hour. CNN said officials viewed the fall as a mental health episode because he wore a life vest. Hegseth admitted some deployments run longer than others. He claimed to have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody else.

He praised what they do in high seas and austere conditions with fewer port calls. Yet he did not directly answer questions about supply shortages, water contamination, or the worsening mental health of the crew. Nor did he say when the vessel would return stateside. The Wall Street Journal reported officials are preparing to replace the Lincoln with the USS George Washington for a scheduled deployment in the region.

Hegseth said commanders and service secretaries know everyone wants troops home as soon as everybody else does. President Trump expects that too, he told reporters. This comes after families voiced concern over reports of mildew in showers and a lack of clean water. Naval officials stated those issues have been resolved. Hegseth has previously dismissed claims of running low on food supplies as fake news.

Meanwhile, care packages from families reportedly did not reach the Middle East under an indefinite suspension of mail deliveries to military ZIP codes. Pictures showed meager portions served for meals amid these alleged conditions. Annabelle Loma said her husband was left overextended before he tried to jump overboard. He is now on a medical hold. Loma has not heard from anyone in the Navy about his condition for weeks.

Her husband told the Military Times he is scared. He thinks he will get a dishonorable discharge just because he was burnt out, which would ruin his 13-year career. That is not fair, she said.

That was not the only worry on his mind.

In a separate incident, a sailor standing watch spotted a shipmate preparing to jump overboard and stepped in immediately. Maria Rodriguez, the sailor's wife, told an outlet about the event. She explained how her husband shouted out before reaching down to grab the other man by the arms and hauling him back onto the deck. The sailor had not yet hit the water when his friend rushed to help. Rodriguez said three other sailors heard the commotion and ran over to assist as well. He later told his family he had never felt adrenaline like that in his life and was just thankful he got there in time to stop the man from going overboard, she noted.

Wives of sailors have described how some tried to jump off the ship. Rodriguez admitted she does not know what happened to the sailor in the aftermath. Sailors have also recounted another case where watch standers stopped a crew member from jumping overboard a few months ago after he struggled with exhaustion and declining morale, according to Stars and Stripes. But another sailor who jumped off the aircraft carrier last week was reportedly in the water for about an hour before rescue crews pulled him out, his wife told MS Now. She said that in her final text message to him on July 21, he wrote that life on the ship was getting to him. 'I'm really trying to not feel negative or hopeless but between the wifi and not knowing when I will come home and not knowing what is happening back at home, it's really getting me,' he typed in the message. He had been due to leave on July 15 but that plan was canceled. 'I don't think I can do another deployment after this and i don't even know if i can finish this deployment,' the sailor added.

His wife said her husband went to the chain of command and the medical team onboard the ship to voice his concerns about his mental health, telling them he was not doing OK. But she claimed they kept brushing off his worries. She also noted that her husband expressed concern that his prescription contact lenses had expired and that he was having trouble seeing while doing his job properly on the helicopters on the carrier's flight deck. 'Every single time he would make a mistake, they would yell at him and he would get into a lot of trouble,' she claimed. He tried to explain that he could not see because his prescription was expired, but they still allowed him to work. More than 200 family members met with acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao last Thursday to discuss their concerns about their loved ones' mental health. 'I think that also had a big toll on him, because he could have injured a lot of people and he could have injured himself, because that's what they kept yelling at him every time he made a mistake.' Her husband is now en route back to San Diego after being medically released.

A seven-month-old baby girl will see her father for the first time when he returns home alongside his three-and-a-half-year-old son, a reunion that marks an end to a long separation. The worried wife told MS Now she could not find words to describe it all because the situation feels surreal. Over 200 concerned family members gathered with acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao for an emotional town hall last Thursday. During that meeting, one spouse tearfully shared she got a message from her husband on the same day saying he hoped he would not wake up tomorrow, Stars and Stripes reports. Another mother described how her daughter feels like she will never come home and believes she is going to die on the ship, according to MS Now. Officials did not directly respond to those claims or similar statements family members made. Instead, Vice Admiral Joseph Cahill, commander of the Naval Surface Forces, simply acknowledged the strain on sailors and their families that this extended deployment causes.

Senator Richard Blumenthal has called for the Navy to account for the conditions aboard the aircraft carrier. We hear you loud and clear regarding the impact this has on families, on service members and the long-term ability of us to stand, sustain our force's health, he said. He then stressed that sailors had access to mental health professionals, chaplains and doctors, and noted they were also sending more mental health professionals to the ship. Navy officials added that the USS Lincoln's leadership is continuously assessing sailor's psychological readiness. Leadership is continuously conducting assessments to monitor and sustain the psychological readiness of every sailor, the Navy told Stars and Stripes. Still, Congressional Democrats demanded answers Wednesday about the conditions onboard the aircraft carrier.

In a letter to Hegseth, Senator Richard Blumenthal called for the Navy to account for conditions aboard the aircraft carrier, which has been deployed more than 250 days without coming ashore in over 200 days, setting a record for consecutive days at sea. Blumenthal voiced concern for such extended deployments, noting widespread reports of shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns and other problems aboard the Lincoln. The men and women aboard the Lincoln have answered the call to serve their country, the senator from Connecticut wrote. Hegseth said the reports of a mental health crisis aboard the ship have been completely misrepresented. The Department owes them adequate supplies, maintenance and support during this deployment. Senator Ruben Gallego also called for an official oversight visit with the bipartisan Senate Delegation to the USS Lincoln to investigate the reported alarming conditions in a post on X. In the meantime, US military officials have sent the USS George Washington from Vietnam to the Middle East to reportedly replace the Lincoln as one of the two aircraft carriers now stationed in the region.