Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth greeted thousands of U.S. Navy sailors returning to the U.S. mainland Wednesday from a record-setting deployment aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, telling the crew in prepared remarks that media reports had overstated problems aboard the carrier while simultaneously acknowledging their achievements.
Hegseth presented the carrier strike group with the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest decoration given collectively to a U.S. military unit.
The citation said the group flew 3,693 combat sorties, launched 450 Tomahawk missiles and sank 64 Iranian warships during its deployment — which he denied was plagued by dysfunction or low morale.
“There were a few folks in the media who tried to turn the USS Abraham Lincoln into some sort of a symbol, a symbol of dysfunction, or a symbol of low morale, or a symbol of a failed mission,” Hegseth told the crew as the carrier returned to San Diego.
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“When I talk to your leadership, and I have had a chance to talk to a number of you, I know it’s the exact opposite,” he said.
The comments came after months of reports of declining morale, supply problems and mental health struggles aboard the Lincoln during its unusually long deployment. The Navy has since acknowledged some resupply problems.
Hegseth previously said that reports about conditions aboard the carrier had been “completely misrepresented.”
The Navy later confirmed that eight sailors across the Lincoln carrier strike group attempted suicide during the deployment. The figure includes sailors assigned to the carrier, its air wing, accompanying destroyers and other elements of the strike group. No sailors died by suicide.
Hegseth did not mention the suicide attempts Wednesday, though he did acknowledge the length of the deployment, noting that the crew went 265 consecutive days without a port call and had its time at sea extended twice.
The Lincoln left San Diego in November and was diverted to the Middle East in January, where it spent nearly seven months supporting U.S. operations against Iran. The deployment stretched well beyond the six-to-nine months typical for Navy ships.
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