Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao announced on Friday that the USS Abraham Lincoln is returning to the U.S. as the aircraft carrier’s long deployment has come under scrutiny over reported harsh conditions the sailors onboard have worked under.
“The USS Abraham Lincoln crushed their deployment and will return home soon as part of a planned rotation. Details will come but let me be clear: the safety and security of our Sailors and Marines always comes first,” Cao said in a statement. “Mission accomplishment. Troop Welfare. This is how we lead.”
Cao said that Lincoln’s deployment, which has stretched for over 260 days since departing San Diego in November, was extended because the mission “demanded it,” acknowledging that deployments are “hard,” combat operations make them “harder,” and that war is “hell,” therefore “normal routines are disrupted.”
“One of the hardest aspects about warfighting beyond knowingly placing our service members in harm’s way is that even with the best planning and communication, change and uncertainty will always be in play,” Cao, who became the acting secretary in April following the ouster of Navy Secretary John Phelan, said. “Our success depends on how we adapt.”
“Sailors and Marines are expected to dig deep—and they always do. A leader’s responsibility is to take care of their people the best they can while balancing mission requirements,” the acting Navy secretary wrote. “During this deployment we have seen both: the job is getting done and our leaders are taking care of their people.”
Cao’s lengthy statement comes as news outlets reported on the poor conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, including supply challenges, dwindling mental health of some sailors, rotten food and moldy showers, prompting Democrats in Congress to call for an investigation into the state of the Lincoln, one of the two aircraft carriers in the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) theater.
Cao claimed that media outlets are trying to paint “our warriors as victims.”
“Not only is that dishonest but it takes away the focus on the enemy and the threat it poses against our nation, people and way of life,” he said.
The acting Navy secretary said the Lincoln, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, has spent 200 days in the war zone, completed over 10,000 sorties and it dropped about 1.5 million lbs. of ordnance, adding the retention rates on the vessel are “amongst the highest of all carriers.”
But Cao also acknowledged that a “small” number of mental health cases were treated without a loss of life, adding that meal plans were “adjusted when fresh resupply was unavailable, without a single meal being missed” and that sailors’ calls home were limited when the “operational threat was too high.”
Other Democratic lawmakers pressed the Navy to permit a bipartisan congressional visit to the Lincoln to inspect the conditions of the vessel amid reports that some sailors attempted to jump off the aircraft carrier.
Last week, Cao and Vice Adm. Douglas Verissimo, head of the Naval Air Forces; and Vice Adm. Joseph Cahill, commander of the Naval Surface Forces, met with family members of sailors aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier as the moral abroad the ship vanes.
The Pentagon sent the USS George Washington, which was spotted crossing the Strait of Malacca on Thursday, to replace the Lincoln, which has been backing U.S. forces during its war against Iran. There are about 5,000 sailors and Marines on the Lincoln.
President Trump disputed the idea that family members of sailors and troops aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln are concerned about the conditions on the vessel.
“No, they’re not,” the president told reporters.
When asked if the Lincoln’s deployment has gone on for too long, Trump said, “No. Not nearly long enough.”
Likewise, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that conditions aboard the aircraft carrier have been “completely misrepresented.”
“Listen, we make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment,” the Pentagon chief said during his visit to Panama. “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 and those austere conditions with less port calls, it’s incredible.”
The acting Navy secretary said there is “no question our young men and women have been pushed to their limits—but they have never broken.”
“They are rightly tired—but have never been out of the fight. However, it is clear, knowing the whole story, our force and their families are not victims,” Cao said. “They are the epitome of American strength and resilience.”
“So, when the USS Abraham Lincoln pulls into the pier, join me and stand proudly with a grateful heart and give our Sailors and Marines the Hero’s Welcome they deserve,” he said.
