Hung Cao, the acting United States Secretary Of The Navy, told Kirsten Gillibrand that eight sailors across the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group attempted suicide during the deployment. The disclosure came in a letter on Tuesday, after the Lincoln crew had already disembarked on 1 September.
Hung Cao’s Letter
Cao wrote, “Since the beginning of Lincoln’s deployment, there have been a total of eight suicide attempts across the strike group.” He added, “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 deployment lasted 286 days and was part of the US war on Iran. The Lincoln crew had been scheduled to end in May, but the deployment was extended, keeping sailors at sea for months longer than planned.
March And August Reports
One sailor’s attempt to go overboard was thwarted by shipmates in March. In August, one sailor went overboard, was rescued, received medical treatment and was transferred off-ship for follow-up care. Cao also said the number of entrée options was temporarily reduced from two to one, a change he described as “implemented to optimize endurance and ensure sustained time on station.”
He said four nutritionally balanced meals were served daily and acknowledged delays in replenishing crew supplies. Pete Hegseth said news coverage was “completely misrepresented” and told reporters in August, “We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment,” while a US navy official said the Navy and the Navy secretary are committed to sailor health, wellbeing and morale.
Kirsten Gillibrand Statement
On Wednesday, Gillibrand said, “What Trump and Secretary Hegseth dismissed as ‘fake news’ turned out to be serious and deteriorating conditions for our service members.” The letter leaves the eight attempts as the clearest public accounting of what happened across the strike group, but it does not add any new action beyond the disclosure itself.
