Eight sailors attempted suicide during the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group's record-breaking deployment to the Middle East, the acting United States Navy secretary has confirmed in a letter to a senior senator. Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao disclosed the figure in a letter to Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a Democrat from New York, after she formally inquired last month about conditions aboard the carrier and its accompanying vessels. Cao confirmed there were no deaths by suicide during the deployment, but described two serious incidents: one sailor fell overboard in early August and was quickly rescued, while another attempted to jump into the sea in March before fellow sailors intervened.

The USS Abraham Lincoln, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier homeported in San Diego, departed in November 2024 for a mission in the South China Sea before being redirected to the Middle East in support of joint US-Israeli operations against Iran. The strike group spent a record uninterrupted stretch of more than 260 days — roughly 286 days in total — at sea before stopping in Thailand in early September for a port call. The strike group encompasses roughly 6,000 sailors across the carrier, its air wing, escorting destroyers, and supporting squadrons. Cao's letter noted the ship was equipped with mental health resources including a psychologist, a clinical social worker, a counsellor, five chaplains, three behavioural health technicians, and a therapy dog.

The deployment attracted widespread public attention after reports — citing sailors and their families — described crew stress, deteriorating mental health, and shortages of food and hygiene products. Cao acknowledged that resupply operations were constrained by combat conditions, temporarily reducing meal variety, and that piping failures and issues with desalination units affected the ship early in the deployment. He maintained that four nutritionally balanced meals were served daily throughout. President Donald Trump previously dismissed these concerns, calling nearly nine months at sea a