WASHINGTON -- President Trump downplayed concerns about the living conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier that has been deployed for more than 250 days, and suggested that the Navy's lengthy deployment in the Middle East was "not nearly long enough."
When a reporter Friday brought up service members' families concerns regarding conditions on board the Lincoln, Trump replied: "No they're not. That ship is moving right now or very shortly and it's being replaced with another very similar ship."
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, the Wall Street Journal previously reported.
The Lincoln has been in the region for nearly nine months, the second aircraft carrier to face an extended deployment under Trump. In May, the USS Gerald R. Ford came home after 11 months, becoming the longest-deployed aircraft carrier since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
When asked if the naval deployment had lasted too long, Trump said it had not gone on "nearly long enough." His comment appeared to be a nod to the ongoing naval blockade, which Trump is hoping will eventually put pressure on Iran economically and convince it to surrender its nuclear program. Aides have convinced Trump -- at least for now -- to give the tactic more time to work before resuming military strikes.
The conditions on the aircraft carrier have received growing attention from members of Congress, amid reports about lack of food, personal supplies and plumbing backups and broader concerns about the sailors' mental health. A person went overboard the Lincoln in early August but was rescued, according to a U.S. official.
The aircraft carrier has not made a port call in 200 days, setting a record for consecutive days at sea, according to Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D., Conn.). A port call allows the crew to resupply, rest and regroup during standard deployments.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has described the concerns as "completely misrepresented."
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.
The carrier's rotation out of the Middle East was scheduled before the concerns about the living conditions were widely reported.
In an Aug. 12 letter to Hegseth and acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao, Blumenthal wrote that the "Lincoln's extended deployment raises broader questions about the Navy's ability to sustainably generate carrier forces while preserving servicemember well-being, maintenance schedules, fleet readiness, and the capacity to respond to future contingencies."