WASHINGTON — President Trump denied family members of sailors and Marines aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln were concerned about their loved ones Friday, adding that the aircraft carrier would soon be relieved following a nine-month deployment.
“That ship is moving right now, or very shortly, and it’s being replaced with another very similar ship,” Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews before departing for an event on Long Island.
Multiple reports have emerged in recent days that poor living conditions and a lack of downtime has taken a severe mental toll on the roughly 5,000 service members on board the carrier, which has been stationed in the Arabian Sea since January, before the start of combat operations against Iran.
According to the Navy Times and Wall Street Journal, at least three sailors have either tried to jump overboard or managed to do so, forcing their colleagues to rescue them or physically restrain them from going over the side.
More than 200 family members met with acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao in San Diego last week to raise their issues — but Trump told reporters “no, they’re not” when a reporter noted that the relatives “are concerned about conditions” on the ship.
The president also brushed off a question about whether the ship, originally deployed in the South China Sea in November, had been away from shore too long.
“No, not nearly long enough,” Trump responded.
The typical deployment for a ship is six months, three months shorter than the USS Lincoln’s record.
The Navy is sending the aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the Middle East to relieve the Lincoln, but it is believed to still be several days from reaching the vessel.
The Lincoln fended off attacks from Iran and helped enforce the US blockade of Iranian ports as part of Operation Epic Fury.
Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.), whose district covers part of San Diego County, has raised numerous concerns about the Lincoln and its crew.
“Respectfully, Mr. President, I’d like to see you survive a week on that ship,” he wrote on X in response to Trump’s comments.
Levin also reported in an X post Aug. 7 that the Lincoln had “[m]oldy showers, broken toilets, no hot water for weeks, meals that came down to half a cup of rice and two tortillas,” as well as a “ship’s store out of soap, deodorant, and toothpaste” and “sailors so worn down that, according to one family member, the ship’s own doctor warned they need to reach port soon or people are going to start losing their minds.”
More Democratic lawmakers have asked the Pentagon for answers about the long deployment and the crew’s health.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth responded that the crew was being cared for and the situation about the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier has been “completely misrepresented.”
“We make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment,” he said Thursday. “Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody.”
