The administration of U.S. President “Donald Trump” acknowledged that eight suicide attempts had occurred among U.S. Navy personnel during the prolonged deployment of the “USS Abraham Lincoln” aircraft carrier in the Middle East, according to a U.S. lawmaker who revealed the information on Wednesday.
The information was included in a letter sent by Acting U.S. Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao in response to an inquiry from Democratic Senator “Kirsten Gillibrand” regarding conditions aboard the carrier, amid previous reports of deteriorating living conditions and mental health among its crew members since its deployment last November.
The Secretary of the Navy, the highest-ranking civilian official in the Navy, said that “a total of eight suicide attempts” had been recorded since the start of the Lincoln’s deployment, involving the entire accompanying carrier strike group.
The letter added that no suicides had been recorded aboard the carrier during its deployment, according to Agence France-Presse. The letter included details about some of the suicide attempts, explaining that a sailor assigned to an air wing fell overboard into the sea in early August, before a search-and-rescue helicopter was able to quickly retrieve him and transfer him off the ship to receive the necessary care.
In another incident, a sailor attempted to throw himself into the sea in March, but his colleagues managed to stop him before he was returned to the home base.
The “Lincoln” aircraft carrier left California in November 2025 to carry out a mission in the South China Sea, before being diverted to the Middle East shortly before the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran that began in late February 2026. After spending 286 days at sea, the carrier stopped in Thailand in early September.
Last August, military families and lawmakers raised concerns over reports of suicide attempts and serious mental health problems, as well as food shortages and deteriorating hygiene conditions aboard the carrier. “Trump” rejected those allegations at the time, while U.S. Defense Secretary “Pete Hegseth” said that the situation aboard the carrier had been “misleadingly portrayed.”
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Author: Counselor Faisal Al-Mutairi.
Publication Date: September 24, 2026.
Updated: September 2026.
