Several sailors have tried to throw themselves overboard from the USS Abraham Lincoln, according to an alarming new report.
The Navy has not given a precise number of service members who have attempted to go overboard or harm themselves, but said the ship’s leadership was constantly assessing the well-being of those on the carrier.
It comes as the Nimitz-class ship and her 5,000 sailors and Marines enter the ninth month of their deployment, which was supposed to last for seven months before they were sent to fight in the Iran war.
President Trump had said that the war would last just a “few weeks,” but five months later, multiple reports have suggested that conditions aboard the ship have worsened, with families of sailors describing toilet problems, closed laundries, and poor rations.
Speaking to the Military Times, the partners of sailors onboard the ship have spoken of multiple incidents of service members attempting to take their own lives.
Annabelle Loma told the outlet she had been told by the ombudsman that her husband had attempted to jump overboard. She said she has only been able to speak to him a handful of times since, and that he was now in a medical hold.
“He’s scared,” she said. “He thinks he’ll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out, his 13-year career is ruined, just like that. That’s not fair, that’s not right. That’s not what he should be worrying about right now.”
Their deployment began in November and was due to end in May, making its current service the longest of a U.S. carrier in the modern era. No return date has been made public at the time of writing.
Maria Rodriguez said her husband had told her he’d spotted another sailor preparing to go overboard.
She said he had called out before reaching them, grabbed their arms, and pulled them to safety.
“He said he hadn’t felt adrenaline like that in his life, and he was just so thankful he was able to get to [the sailor] in time, to stop them from going overboard,” she told the Military Times.
Stars and Stripes reported a separate incident in which watchstanders stopped a sailor from going overboard.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House and the Department of Defense for comment.
Pressure from the families of the service members has been mounting, with a meeting taking place in San Diego with Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao and 200 of the sailors’ loved ones.
Cao told families at the meeting that the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group is being prepared to relieve the Lincoln. However, it is not clear yet when that will be.
MS NOW saw notes from a separate virtual meeting, where family members stressed their concerns about exhaustion and mental health.
The son of Navy veteran Brett Snow is also on the ship. He told MS NOW the situation has created a scenario that is “ripe for accidents.”
Speaking to Military Times, Shelby Sanders said her mother is aboard the Lincoln, and said, “When she can email me, she’s definitely down.
“I think they’ve had five weeks of non-stop combat operations or something like that, so that makes it really tough to communicate consistently or even know if we’ll be able to. It sucks.”
If you or a loved one are struggling with suicidal thoughts, please reach out to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline by dialing or texting 988.
