US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday that reports about poor conditions aboard aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East were “completely misrepresented.”
Two military-focused outlets, Navy Times and Stars and Stripes, reported suicide attempts and declining morale on the 5,000-person ship, which has been at sea since November 2025.
The carrier has been in the Middle East since January, supporting the US war with Iran.
“We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment. Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody. What they do in those high seas in those austere conditions with less port calls — it’s incredible,” Hegseth told reporters during a visit to Panama. –Agencies
