The administration of U.S. President \u201cDonald Trump\u201d acknowledged that eight suicide attempts had occurred among U.S. Navy personnel during the prolonged deployment of the \u201cUSS Abraham Lincoln\u201d aircraft carrier in the Middle East, according to a U.S. lawmaker who revealed the information on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cKirsten Gillibrand\u201d regarding conditions aboard the carrier, amid previous reports of deteriorating living conditions and mental health among its crew members since its deployment last November.<\/p>\n
The Secretary of the Navy, the highest-ranking civilian official in the Navy, said that \u201ca total of eight suicide attempts\u201d had been recorded since the start of the Lincoln\u2019s deployment, involving the entire accompanying carrier strike group.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The \u201cLincoln\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
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. \u201cTrump\u201d rejected those allegations at the time, while U.S. Defense Secretary \u201cPete Hegseth\u201d said that the situation aboard the carrier had been \u201cmisleadingly portrayed.\u201d<\/p>\n
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