President Donald Trump confirmed to reporters Friday that another ship will soon relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln after reports surfaced of poor conditions aboard the boat — though he denied that the families of sailors on board the ship were actually concerned.
The president’s comments follow several reports of deteriorating conditions on the aircraft carrier, which recently set a record for the most consecutive days at sea without a port call. Family members said they’ve been told about food shortages and plummeting morale on the ship, and several sailors have reportedly tried to jump overboard during the ship’s extended deployment.
When a reporter mentioned that the families of service members are concerned about conditions aboard the carrier, Trump cut them off, saying, “No, they’re not.”
“Has the deployment gone on too long?” the reporter asked.
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“No, no, no. Not nearly long enough,” Trump replied before leaving the press pool.
Democratic lawmakers have demanded answers, penning a letter this week to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao to ask what steps the Navy will take to improve conditions.
“These reports warrant immediate attention, but they also raise a broader question: whether the Navy can sustain the operational tempo now being demanded of its carrier force, particularly as this Administration repeatedly commits U.S. forces to conflicts of its own choosing and increasingly relies on aircraft carriers to sustain those operations,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D- Connecticut) wrote.
Hegseth told reporters Thursday during a trip to Panama that the reports of dire living conditions aboard the Lincoln were “completely misrepresented.”
The Navy is expected to send the USS George Washington to replace the Lincoln in a previously planned swap, CNN reported Thursday.
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