Eight service members across the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group attempted suicide during its current deployment, which included more than 200 days of combat operations in the Middle East, acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said this week.
In a Tuesday letter to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Cao said there had been eight suicide attempts across the strike group since the deployment began. No suicides occurred during the deployment, he said. The carrier has been deployed more than 10 months as of Thursday.
In one instance, a sailor who went overboard from USS Abraham Lincoln in early August was rescued, and another service member who tried to jump off the carrier in March was stopped by shipmates, Cao said in the letter.
The strike group includes the carrier’s air wing and ships such as the destroyer USS Frank E. Petersen Jr. Aircraft carriers typically carry about 4,500 to 5,000 service members, while Arleigh Burke-class destroyers typically have crews of 300 to 330.
For context, 356 sailors across an active-duty force of more than 327,000 attempted suicide in 2024, according to the latest available Pentagon data. The figures cover different periods and populations.
“Eight attempted suicides is incredibly high,” one U.S. military official told CNN, saying recent carrier strike group deployments have typically had one or two per year. “The strain of combat ops is much higher than normal deployments. No port calls, constant alerts, etc.”
In August, Stars and Stripes reported family member concerns about the mental health of Abraham Lincoln sailors and Marines, including at least one suicide attempt. At the time, the carrier had logged more than 250 consecutive days at sea, including a record-breaking number of days without a port call.
Cao said in August that media reports about deteriorating mental health, food shortages, mail disruptions and other conditions on the ship were “dishonest.” CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper said Lincoln had among the lowest numbers of mental health-related cases among carriers. President Donald Trump dismissed reports about conditions aboard the Lincoln, saying family members were not worried about living conditions and mental health. When asked whether the carrier had been deployed too long, Trump responded, “No, no, no. Not nearly long enough.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said reports about the Lincoln were “completely misrepresented.”
Gillibrand said in a statement to CNN that what the president and Hegseth called fake news “turned out to be serious and deteriorating conditions for our service members.”
The Navy sent USS George Washington to relieve Lincoln, which left the CENTCOM area of responsibility in late August, subsequently making a port call in Thailand and a logistics stop in Guam. As of Thursday, Lincoln is nearing a post-Vietnam War carrier deployment record set by USS Gerald R. Ford in May of 326 days.
Earlier this month, Navy leaders said the service was applying lessons from recent deployments as it prepares USS Theodore Roosevelt for the Middle East. The effort includes increasing storage aboard Roosevelt for food, hygiene products and other supplies, Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Daryl Caudle and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy John Perryman said. Roosevelt is expected to depart San Diego in the coming weeks to relieve Washington in the Arabian Sea during a deployment expected to last more than seven months.
Sources: DVIDS News · Stars and Stripes