Eight Sailors from USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Group Reported Suicide Attempts During Deployment

Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao told Senator Kirsten Gillibrand that eight sailors attached to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group attempted suicide during the ship's lengthy deployment in the Middle East. The eight individuals included members of the carrier crew, the air wing, strike group, destroyer squadron staff, escorting destroyers and embarked aviation squadrons.

Cao said the vessel, which had been at sea since November and is now returning to the United States, had five chaplains and multiple mental-health professionals available to address the "spiritual and emotional needs of the crew." He also noted that the Navy had dealt with isolated plumbing failures, temporary issues with desalination units and a brief reduction in meal options, but denied a broader mental-health crisis among the roughly 5,000 personnel on board.

Senator Gillibrand, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, criticized previous administration responses to reports of conditions on the carrier. > "What Trump and Secretary Hegseth dismissed as 'fake news' turned out to be serious and deteriorating conditions for our service members," she said, adding that the president had shown "open disrespect" toward troops and their families.

The carrier left California in November for the South China Sea before being redirected to the Middle East ahead of potential attacks on Iran in February. The deployment, originally slated to end in May, was extended multiple times. In August, the USS George Washington was dispatched to replace the Abraham Lincoln after a nine-month tour.

Suicide remains a leading cause of death among U.S. Navy and Marine personnel, and recent studies have shown higher rates of serious psychological distress among sailors compared with other service branches.