An F-18 jet launches from the USS Abraham Lincoln on Tuesday. (Photo courtesy of the Navy)
Military news publications are reporting that sailors aboard the San Diego-based USS Abraham Lincoln face mental health challenges amid a lengthy deployment off Iran.
Stars and Stripes and Military Times have both cited family members in reporting that morale is declining during a grueling deployment and at least one sailor has tried to jump overboard.
In early July, the Lincoln set an aircraft carrier record by operating over 210 days at sea without a port visit amid the on-and-off fighting in the Middle East.
The nuclear-powered supercarrier left San Diego on Nov. 21, docked in Guam for one day on Dec. 12 and has been at sea ever since. Some 5,000 sailors and Marines are aboard the giant warship.
Stars and Stripes said some 200 family members met with Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao in San Diego last week to express their concerns.
Family members were reportedly told that sailors have access to mental health support that includes counselors, chaplains, medical professionals and other services.
Rep. Mike Levin, whose district includes Camp Pendleton, said in a post on X that family members told him of “moldy showers, broken toilets, laundry down for weeks, long stretches with no hot water, a meal that came down to half a cup of rice and two tortillas.”
“These men and women signed up to serve their country. The least their country owes them is hot water, a working toilet and a real meal,” Levin wrote.
The Navy has previously denied that there were shortages of food on the carrier.