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Eight U.S. Navy personnel aboard ships in the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group attempted suicide during the group’s deployment against Iran, according to a letter from Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao unveiled by the local media.
Cao disclosed the figure in written responses to questions from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, a senior member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, about the morale and mental health of the Lincoln crew. No service members died by suicide during the deployment, Cao wrote, according to the letter obtained by CNN.
The figure covers more than the carrier’s own crew. It includes sailors assigned to the carrier airwing, strike group and destroyer squadron staffs, escorting destroyers and all embarked aviation squadrons.
The new figure follows a series of reports that began surfacing publicly in August, when relatives of sailors and Marines aboard the Lincoln began describing worsening conditions during the unusually long deployment.
The Pentagon and Navy leadership repeatedly rejected or qualified some of the reporting about conditions aboard the Lincoln. United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in mid-August that reports portraying conditions aboard the carrier as deteriorating had been "completely misrepresented."
Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Central Command, then visited the Lincoln after the reports about mental health and morale emerged.
Cooper acknowledged that conditions were not perfect and that life at sea was difficult, but said the Lincoln had among the lowest number of mental health-related cases among the Navy's 11 active aircraft carriers.
U.S. President Donald Trump also dismissed concerns about the carrier’s conditions and deployment length, asserting that the mission was "not nearly long enough."
The Lincoln departed San Diego on Nov. 21, 2025, for what was initially expected to be a seven-month deployment ending in May. By August, the ship had remained at sea for more than eight months and had spent more than 200 consecutive days without a port call.
Between 6,000 and 7,000 Navy sailors were deployed with the Lincoln strike group across roughly six ships. The carrier remained at sea for more than six months while carrying out a high tempo of combat operations against Iran.
After 286 days at sea, the USS Abraham Lincoln docked at Thailand's Laem Chabang Port on Sept. 2, according to Cao's letter. The ship had been out of port for more than six months while the strike group conducted combat operations against Iran.
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