Donald Trump dismisses fears for crew of US aircraft carrier with supplies and mental health issues

Donald Trump dismisses fears for crew of US aircraft carrier with supplies and mental health issues Thousands of US military members who have lived aboard USS Abraham Lincoln for more than 250 days are reportedly contending with major issues as leading lawmakers demand answers Donald Trump has downplayed fears over conditions on US aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln amid claims sailors tried to jump overboard during their extended deployment. His comments come after two American military news outlets reported suicide attempts and a shortages of basic supplies, safety concerns and mental health issues on the vessel. The warship has been at sea since November 2025 and has spent a record 250 days consecutively without making land. Worried families have registered their concerns about loved ones onboard with one of the outlets claiming the wife of one of the crew saying she received a message from her husband saying he "hopes he doesn’t wake up tomorrow”. USS Abraham Lincoln has been in the Middle East since January, supporting the war in Iran. The Navy Times and Stars and Stripes, reported the declining morale and thwarted attempts to jump overboard are just some of the issues as Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said the aircraft carrier "will return home soon" in a social media post. But as 5,000 sailors and marines endure a record-breaking time at sea, the US President played down reports of an intensifying crisis onboard. Mr Trump said the deployment is "not nearly long enough" when asked by reporters if it was excessive. He added: "That ship is moving right now, or very shortly, and it's being replaced with another very similar ship." When he was asked whether family members were worried about the situation on board, the president simply responded: “No, they’re not.” Mike Levin, a Democratic member of Congress from California, sounded the alarm over issues on X, describing the conditons as “moldy showers, broken toilets, laundry down for weeks, long stretches with no hot water, a meal that came down to half a cup of rice and two tortillas. No soap, deodorant, or toothpaste.” America's defense secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed the suggestions as “more fake news”. Mr Levin hit back at the response, writing: “These men and women signed up to serve their country. The least their country owes them is hot water, a working toilet and a real meal. Hegseth cannot even manage that, and he has the nerve to look their families in the eye and call them liars.” Connecticut Senator Richard Blumenthal also listed the reported hardships in a letter to Mr Hegseth. "Shortages of basic supplies, water contamination, plumbing issues, deteriorating mental health, deck safety concerns and disruptions in the mail system, which have caused many care packages in route to the ship to be lost in transit for months," the Democrat wrote. The US Navy says it has "not observed an increase in suicidal ideations or attempts aboard the ship", following the reports that sailors on the carrier are struggling with mental health. Jason Crow, a Democratic Congress member who served in Afghanistan and Iraq, warned that the strain on service members and their families on the ship is “building week by week”. Yesterday, Mr Trump has announced plans to declare the Strait of Hormuz a "territory of the United States." Speaking at a rally in New York on Friday, Trump said: "After we finish defeating Iran, which is being very badly defeated, pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.”