By Phil Stewart
PANAMA CITY, Aug 13 (Reuters) – U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday said reports about poor conditions aboard aircraft carrier the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East were “completely misrepresented.”
“We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment. Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody. What they do in those high seas in those austere conditions with less port calls – it’s incredible,” he told reporters during a visit to Panama.
The USS Abraham Lincoln and several guided-missile destroyers arrived in the Middle East in January. The U.S. and Israel began strikes on Iran in late February.
Extended deployments can pose enormous strain on crews’ mental health, particularly in wartime, and have always been a challenge for the U.S. Navy. Sailors must maintain a heightened state of alert and readiness, especially with the threat of drone and missile attack from Iran.
When asked about reports of poor conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln, White House spokesperson Olivia Wales said President Donald Trump and Hegseth were committed to ensuring the U.S. military was “equipped with the resources necessary to counter any threat to the United States”.
Democratic lawmakers are unhappy about the extended deployment of the Lincoln carrier and the conditions on the ship.
“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,” U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal wrote to Hegseth and the Navy secretary this week.
(Reporting by Phil Stewart, additional reporting by Steve Holland; writing by Michelle NicholsEditing by David Ljunggren)
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