US Navy secretary finally confirmed that USS Abraham Lincoln’s eight sailors attempted suicide during Iran war deployment.
According to The Guardian, Hung Cao, the acting US navy secretary, revealed in a letter to the US senator Kirsten Gillibrand on Tuesday, September 23, that eight US navy personnel assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group have attempted suicide since the start of their lengthy deployment.
“Since the beginning of Lincoln’s deployment, there have been a total of eight suicide attempts across the strike group,” Cao wrote, responding on behalf of US defense secretary Pete Hegseth to Gillibrand’s inquiry about the quality of life aboard the fleet.
He said, “This number includes the Lincoln crew and sailors from the carrier airwing, strike group and destroyer squadron staff, escorting destroyers and all embarked aviation squadrons.”
The crew of the Lincoln, which was at sea for 286 days, disembarked on 1 September in a Thai resort city.
The crew had been scheduled to wrap their deployment in May, but it was extended amid the unresolved war.
In August, two military newspapers reported on sailors’ deteriorating mental health, including multiple attempts to jump overboard.
The reports prompted outcry from Democrats, who called for an investigation of the conditions onboard.
In March, one sailor’s attempt to go overboard was thwarted by shipmates, according to Cao.
In August, one sailor did go overboard. Cao wrote that the individual was rescued and received medical treatment, before being “transferred off-ship for follow-up care.”
As per the secretary the number of entrée options was temporarily reduced from two to one, a measure “implemented to optimize endurance and ensure sustained time on station”. He said four nutritionally balanced meals were served daily.
It is worth noting that Hegseth downplayed the media coverage, saying news outlets “completely misrepresented” the situation.
