The U.S. military is preparing to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln with the USS George Washington as part of a scheduled Middle East deployment, U.S. officials said, amid growing concerns over living conditions aboard the Lincoln and the strain on troops during the Iran war.
Several lawmakers say they are concerned about reports of a lack of food and personal supplies aboard the carrier, as well as plumbing backups, as the carrier's deployment stretches into its ninth month.
A U.S. official confirmed Thursday that a person went overboard the Lincoln but was quickly rescued.
The Lincoln has been deployed for more than 250 days and it hasn't made a port call in 200 days, setting a record for consecutive days at sea, according to Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.), who wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao.
"There have been widespread reports of 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, " Blumenthal wrote.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R., Ind.) said he plans to seek an update from the Pentagon and the administration. "At the end of the day, we know that those who are serving have to have comfort knowing that they're getting properly taken care of," he said in an interview with CNN on Thursday.
U.S. officials say the conditions aboard the Lincoln aren't unusual for a wartime deployment, but some acknowledge that months without a port call can weigh on troops. Typically, aircraft carriers pull into port to resupply and give the crew a chance to rest and regroup during standard deployments.
The USS Gerald R. Ford was at sea for 11 months before it returned home in May and became the longest-deployed aircraft carrier since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The ship stopped for several days in Split, Croatia, in March, during the height of the Iran war, to undergo maintenance and give sailors time off. Still, the extended deployment and challenging conditions weighed on servicemembers.
The Lincoln's rotation out of the Middle East was planned before concerns were raised about the living conditions, according to one of the officials. It comes as President Trump has been trying to apply economic pressure on Iran, including a prolonged blockade of Iranian ports carried out by a large number of American warships.
The Lincoln began its scheduled deployment in November and was redirected to the Middle East in January ahead of the U.S. war against Iran. The carrier and its embarked aircraft were instrumental to the U.S.'s Operation Epic Fury bombing campaign, and the ship has since participated in the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D., Arizona) said he is seeking an oversight visit to the Lincoln with a bipartisan Senate delegation to probe conditions on the ship. "These sailors are owed a sense of when they will go home," Gallego, an Iraq war veteran, said this week on X.
The USS George Washington, based in Japan, has been operating in the South China Sea in recent weeks and recently made a port call in Vietnam. The carrier's deployment in the region was an example of how the U.S. military works to counter Chinese influence in the Pacific. The carrier recently transited the Strait of Malacca moving westward alongside guided-missile destroyers, according to ship tracking data and a U.S. official.
The Washington's movement to the Middle East will leave a temporary void in the Pacific, where China has deployed its own aircraft carrier and is seeking to exert influence over its neighbors, analysts say.
"Normally, the George Washington would do its patrol and go and show the flag and demonstrate our resolve and our support to countries like the Philippines and Japan," said Bryan Clark, a former naval officer who is now a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. "We're going to forgo all these strategic opportunities to influence the relationships with the neighbors there."
The carrier rotation also is raising concerns about the Navy's ability to respond to global events and sustain its operations long term, officials and analysts say. The Navy has 11 active aircraft carriers, which require maintenance when they return home.
Due to the Iran war, it could take three years to get the fleet back to its ideal readiness posture, according to Clark. "If you've got two or three carriers on each coast that are in various stages of needing to be repaired or maintained, they're going to be waiting in line," he said.
MS Now reported earlier this month that sailors aboard the Lincoln were facing tough conditions including food shortages and sailors running out of toothpaste and soap. CNN previously reported that a person went overboard the Lincoln.
The Navy didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about the conditions aboard the ship.