(AFP) – The Trump administration has acknowledged eight suicide attempts by US service members during the extended deployment of an aircraft carrier to the Middle East, a US lawmaker revealed on Wednesday. The information emerged in a letter, seen by AFP, that was sent by Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao in response to questions from Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand about conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln.
Reports of deteriorating living conditions and poor mental health on board the carrier since it first deployed to sea last November made headlines in the United States, provoking criticism of President Donald Trump’s war against Iran. “Since the beginning of Lincoln’s deployment, there have been a total of eight suicide attempts across the strike group,” said the letter from the navy secretary, the service’s top civilian official. “There have been no suicides onboard during this deployment,” the letter added.
The letter provided additional details on the suicide attempts, saying a sailor assigned to an air wing “went overboard from the ship in early August” and was quickly recovered by a search and rescue helicopter, then taken off ship for follow-up care. Another sailor “attempted to go overboard in March and was stopped by his shipmates” and returned to homeport.
The Lincoln left California in November 2025 for duty in the South China Sea and was rerouted to the Middle East before US-Israeli attacks on Iran that began in late February 2026. It finally made a stopover in Thailand in early September after 286 days at sea. In August, military families and lawmakers raised the alarm about reported suicide attempts and other serious mental health issues, food shortages, and poor hygiene. Those claims were dismissed by Trump at the time. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had also insisted that the situation on the carrier had been “misrepresented.”
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