8 sailors on the USS Lincoln have attempted suicide  

According to a new note from the US Navy's acting Secretary, eight US Navy personnel who were part of the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier group that fought against Iranian forces in the Strait of Hormuz have attempted suicide. All eight personnel attempted suicide during the carrier fleet's active mission in the Middle East. The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier fleet broke US records by being on active duty for more than 300 days. The carrier fleet has just now begun its mission home to US soil. The carrier fleet spent 264 consecutive days at sea without stopping at a port.

Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao revealed the number of personnel who attempted suicide to CNN. The number, which has not been reported before, includes crew members from several ships that travel together. Cao did clarify, after questioning from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand about the morale and mental health of the USS Abraham Lincoln's crew, that no crew members had committed suicide and that all eight instances were unsuccessful.

In line with statistics

The headline about the attempted suicides has sparked outrage and worry across the US, but the truth is that this suicide attempt rate is in line with the US Navy on a broad scale. According to CNN, the rate of suicide attempts among the Lincoln strike group's sailors was roughly consistent with that of the entire active-duty Navy in 2024, the most recent year for which the Pentagon has released suicide data. That year, the Navy saw 356 suicide attempts among its estimated 337,000 active-duty sailors. In total, between 6,000 and 7,000 U.S. Navy sailors were deployed as part of the Lincoln strike group. A fleet that consisted of roughly a half dozen ships. The fleet was kept out of port for over six months while conducting near-daily combat operations against Iran.

CNN had previously reported that two sailors assigned to the Lincoln strike fleet had jumped overboard in recent months. Both were rescued, according to US officials. Other Navy personnel were prevented from jumping, according to reports from the Navy Times and Stars and Stripes. The Lincoln fleet reportedly had various mental health resources aboard, including five chaplains, one embedded integrated prevention counsellor, one psychologist, one clinical social worker, three behavioural health technicians and one expeditionary facility dog.

Trump had downplayed reports on ship conditions

US President Donald Trump repeatedly downplayed early reports of crew morale and mental health crises on the Lincoln. The fleet, which left port in November 2025, arrived in the Middle East in January 2026 in order to conduct military operations against Iran, and did not see port for a record-setting 265 days. The long stay at sea, alongside near-daily violent confrontations with Iranian ships, missiles, and jets, reportedly created a mental health crisis for staff members. The USS Lincoln and a couple of other support vessels made a brief stop in Vietnam in early September, but still, the timeline was kept secret from the crews. The Lincoln's commanding officer, Capt. Dan Keeler, said in Vietnam that the ship was heading home ‘soon' but was unable to give his crew a timeline.

Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth both downplayed the importance of the record-setting stay at sea. Donald Trump claimed that in the past, US Navy crews had stayed much longer aboard their ship without docking. He described the stay at sea as ‘a good stay'. Pete Hegseth, on the other hand, took a stronger approach. When reports of the crew's mental health began surfacing in mid-August 2026, Hegseth took to social media to claim that the conditions being reported were completely false. Now, with eight honourable Navy crew members having attempted suicide, the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defence (now War) are both on record denying those claims.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand slams Trump administration for downplaying crisis

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand heavily criticized Trump and Hegseth in a statement after Secretary Cao's letter on September 22. Gillibrand, who is a member of the Senate's Armed Services Committee, wrote Cao a letter in August, requesting information about conditions aboard the USS Lincoln strike fleet. After receiving Cao's response and learning of the suicide attempts, she slammed the Trump administration for its handling of the situation. Sen. Gillibrand, a New York Democrat, said U.S. troops and their families make immense sacrifices every day, only to have President Trump dismiss their concerns with open disrespect.