A letter from the acting secretary of the US Navy reveals a greater mental health crisis among USS Abraham Lincoln sailors than was previously known. Photo / Getty Images
A letter from the acting secretary of the US Navy reveals a greater mental health crisis among USS Abraham Lincoln sailors than was previously known. Photo / Getty Images
Warning: This article is about suicide and may be distressing for some readers.
Eight sailors on board the beleaguered USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group tried to end their own lives during its record-breaking deployment in the Middle East.
According to a letter from Hung Cao, the acting secretary ofthe US Navy, the suicide attempts occurred during a period that included when the ships were involved in military action against Iran.
The note obtained by CNN was a written response to questions from Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democratic senator from New York, about concerns over the mental health and morale of the USS Abraham Lincoln’s crew, who have been deployed since November.
“Since the beginning of Lincoln’s deployment, there have been a total of eight suicide attempts across the strike group,” Cao wrote to Gillibrand on Wednesday, adding that no one had died.
“This number includes the Lincoln crew and sailors from the carrier air wing, strike group and destroyer squadron staff, escorting destroyers and all embarked aviation squadrons.”
In the letter, Cao confirmed that a sailor had jumped overboard from the warship in early August but was “quickly recovered” and received treatment. He also said another sailor had “attempted to go overboard in March and was stopped by his shipmates”.
One of the sailors reportedly faced disciplinary action for allegedly attempting suicide after repeatedly raising concerns about his mental health, his wife told MS NOW.
The findings reveal a far greater mental health crisis among sailors on the ships than was previously known.
The rate of suicide attempts on board the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group was consistent with the rest of the active-duty Navy, according to Pentagon data from 2024.
Reports of deteriorating conditions on board the ship were met with outrage. Photo / Getty Images
However, a US military official told CNN that “eight attempted suicides is incredibly high”, noting there have been one or two each year in other carrier strike group deployments.
“The strain of combat ops is much higher than normal deployments. No port calls, constant alerts, etc,” they added.
Reports of deteriorating conditions on board were met with outrage and concern regarding the mental wellbeing of the more than 5000 marines and pilots assigned to the ships.
Crew members and their families described poor food, cramped living quarters and burnout as their deployment was repeatedly extended and the carrier was away from port for more than six months.
According to the letter, the USS Abraham Lincoln had five chaplains, one prevention counsellor, a psychologist, a social worker, three behavioural health technicians and an expeditionary facility dog.
After the USS George Washington was sent to relieve the crisis-hit carrier strike group, Donald Trump dismissed the concerns, saying the deployment was “not nearly long enough”.
Pete Hegseth, the US Secretary of Defence, said the reports were “completely misrepresented”.
After 286 days at sea, the USS Abraham Lincoln docked in Pattaya, Thailand on September 2, and the crew were able to disembark.
Before that, sailors had just two days in port since the ships departed their home base of San Diego, California, in November and were redirected to the Gulf in January, shortly before the outbreak of war in Iran.
The carrier group is expected to arrive in San Diego in the next few weeks, more than four months after its original May return date.
The US Navy did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.
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