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New aircraft carrier going to Middle East amid questions over conditions on USS Abraham Lincoln.
The U.S. is sending a new aircraft carrier to the Middle East amid reports of poor conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been long deployed to the theater in support of the war against Iran.
The USS George Washington, a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier, departed a port in Vietnam last week and was spotted crossing the Strait of Malacca on Thursday, a waterway that connects the Indian and Pacific oceans, according to ship-tracking social media accounts.
The Pentagon declined to comment.
The USS Abraham Lincoln is one of two aircraft carriers positioned in the U.S. Central Command (Centcom) area of responsibility as the U.S. Navy continues to enforce the naval blockade in the Arabian Sea, barring Iranian ships from entering the country’s ports.
The swap will take place as news reports have shed the light on deteriorating conditions on the Lincoln, including supply issues and worsening mental health of sailors on board.
Several lawmakers have called for more transparency about the conditions on the Lincoln while some have urged the Navy allow a bipartisan congressional visit to the vessel to inspect the state of the ship.
The Lincoln, which deployed from San Diego in late November, has set the record for uninterrupted time at sea with more than 240 days.
In January, the aircraft carrier was redirected to Centcom. The ship was originally scheduled to return in May, but no publicly announced return date has been set.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln have been “completely misrepresented” in light of reports that sailors are struggling with low morale during a grueling deployment and that some have attempted to jump overboard.
“Listen, we make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment,” Hegseth told Newsmax. “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 U.S. CENTCOM is the commanding aisle of the Pentagon in the Middle East located in MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.