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Jump-overboard reports spark probe
Democratic US senators demanded answers after reports that sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln attempted to jump overboard as the aircraft carrier entered its ninth month of deployment at sea, with US Senator Richard Blumenthal writing to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Acting US Navy Secretary Hung Cao.
“Blumenthal gives US Navy two weeks to provide answers”
Blumenthal said the Lincoln had spent nearly 250 consecutive days at sea without making land since its departure from San Diego in November 2025, and he gave the Navy two weeks, until August 27, to provide answers.
In his letter, Blumenthal asked for details on the conditions aboard the carrier, including how the Navy assesses the mental health and morale of its soldiers and how it plans to preserve service member well-being, maintenance, schedules, fleet readiness, and the capacity to respond to future contingencies.
The reports also prompted a separate response from Hegseth, who rejected the claims and told reporters from Panama that the reports about Lincoln's conditions are "misrepresented."
CNN also reported that a sailor went overboard last month and was quickly rescued, while a US official told the network that the circumstances were not immediately clear and whether the sailor returned to duty or was evacuated.
Lawmakers press; Navy denies
Senator Ruben Gallego echoed Blumenthal and said he was looking into conducting an official oversight visit with a bipartisan Senate Delegation, telling X that "These sailors are owed a sense of when they will go home."
In the same dispute over the ship’s conditions, Al Jazeera reported that Blumenthal said the carrier had been “continuously at sea for a record length of nearly seven months,” and Gallego called for a bipartisan congressional delegation to visit the USS Lincoln to conduct an oversight investigation.
Al Jazeera also quoted Hegseth saying the reports of poor conditions were “completely misrepresented,” adding that “We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment,” while the US Navy told Stars and Stripes it was conducting assessments to monitor psychological readiness.
CNN reported that during town hall meetings in San Diego, about 200 family members voiced concerns about mental health and safety conditions, including a spouse tearfully describing a message from her husband saying “he hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow,” according to Stars and Stripes.
The Guardian added that a woman at a town hall told acting navy secretary Hung Cao that the navy had "broken trust between us and the leadership," as families described moldy showers, broken toilets, and meals reduced to half a cup of rice and two tortillas.
Deployment swap and oversight stakes
Lawmakers’ demands are tied to the Lincoln’s prolonged deployment and the question of when the crew will be relieved, with Navy Times reporting that Cao said the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group was being prepared to relieve Lincoln but that no timeline could be provided due to “operational security.”
“could not provide a timeline due to “operational security.””
The Wall Street Journal, as cited by The Jerusalem Post, reported that the USS George Washington aircraft carrier is being sent to replace Lincoln as part of a "previously scheduled rotation plan," according to US officials familiar with the matter.
In parallel, Blumenthal’s letter sought clarity on what military objective Lincoln’s ongoing deployment is meant to achieve and how the US Defense Department “assess[es] whether the carrier’s continued presence is necessary to accomplish that objective.”
CNN reported that the USS George Washington carrier group, which finished a port visit in Vietnam on August 5, is currently headed to the Middle East to replace the Lincoln, and it said the swap had been previously planned.
Across the dispute, the Navy’s public position in CNN’s reporting was that it “have not observed an increase in suicidal ideations or attempts aboard the ship,” while the stakes for lawmakers and families remain tied to the ship’s record-setting time at sea and the reported conditions that prompted calls for oversight and investigation.
