President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed concerns raised by families of service members aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, telling reporters at Joint Base Andrews that the aircraft carrier’s nearly nine-month deployment has not been “nearly long enough.” The remarks came as the Lincoln approaches its 265th consecutive day at sea, a modern-day record, amid mounting reports of deteriorating conditions and multiple sailors attempting to go overboard.
Trump made the comments during a gaggle with reporters before boarding Air Force One, where he opened by touting a stock market record and a 15-month streak of what he described as zero apprehensions at the southern border. A reporter then turned the conversation to the Lincoln, telling the president that family members of U.S. service members are concerned about conditions on board the ship. “No, that ship is another — that ship is moving right now, for very shortly, and it’s being replaced with another very similar,” Trump responded.
Pressed further on whether the deployment had gone on too long and whether he was worried about the mental health of the crew, Trump rejected the premise outright. “Not nearly long enough,” he said, before turning to board Air Force One.
The exchange followed more than a week of reporting on conditions aboard the Lincoln. Multiple sailors have attempted to go overboard during the deployment, according to family members who spoke separately to Navy Times and other outlets. Annabelle Loma, whose husband attempted to jump from the carrier and is now on medical hold, said he had been repeatedly overextended in the lead-up to the incident. “He’s scared,” Loma said. “He thinks he’ll get a dishonorable discharge, and just because he was burnt out, his 13-year career is ruined, just like that. That’s not fair, that’s not right.”
In a separate incident, a sailor on watch intervened to stop a shipmate from going overboard, according to Maria Rodriguez, whose husband was involved in the rescue. Rodriguez said her husband called out to the sailor and pulled them back onto the deck before the individual went over the side. “He said he hadn’t felt adrenaline like that in his life, and he was just so thankful he was able to get to [the sailor] in time, to stop them from going overboard,” Rodriguez said.
The Lincoln left its home port of San Diego on November 21, 2025, and has been supporting U.S. military operations against Iran in the Middle East since Trump’s February 2026 order that began Operation Epic Fury. The deployment was originally expected to end in May but has since been extended with no publicly announced return date, placing the carrier in what MS NOW described as its fifth consecutive month of combat operations.
More than 200 family members attended a meeting in San Diego last week with acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao, where officials said the Navy is preparing the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group to eventually relieve the Lincoln, though no timeline was provided, citing operational security. During a separate virtual meeting the same evening, families raised concerns about sailors’ mental health, exhaustion and safety, according to recordings reviewed by MS NOW.
Vice Adm. Joseph Cahill, commander of Naval Surface Forces, addressed the families directly during that virtual meeting. “We hear you loud and clear [regarding] the impact this has on families, on service members and the long-term ability of us to stand, sustain our forces’ health,” Cahill said, according to MS NOW’s review of the recording. Cahill pointed to deployment-resilience counselors, chaplains and Human Factors Councils aboard the ship designed to monitor sailors’ well-being.
Trump’s account of the carrier’s status differed from what he told reporters in one respect: rather than the Roosevelt cited by Navy officials in San Diego, CNN reported that the USS George Washington carrier strike group — which completed a port visit in Vietnam on August 5 — is now headed to the Middle East to relieve the Lincoln. A U.S. official told CNN the swap had been planned in advance, though it remains unclear when the Washington will arrive in the region.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth addressed the reporting a day earlier, on Thursday, while traveling in Central America, saying conditions aboard the Lincoln had been “completely misrepresented,” though he did not specify which details he disputed. “We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment,” Hegseth said. “Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody.”
U.S. Central Command also pushed back this week on some of the more serious claims circulating about the ship, saying in a statement Wednesday that reports alleging seven sailors had died in an onboard brawl were false and that no service members aboard the Lincoln had died during the deployment.
Under the Navy’s Optimized Fleet Response Plan, standard carrier deployments generally target around seven months, though extensions have become increasingly common in recent years due to global tensions and maintenance backlogs. At roughly eight-and-a-half to nine months, the Lincoln’s deployment is two to three months beyond that standard target.
Trump’s remarks drew immediate criticism from congressional Democrats. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., wrote on social media that parents of service members aboard the Lincoln had reached out to her office directly to express concerns about their children’s welfare, disputing the president’s characterization that no such concerns exist.
Shelby Sanders, whose mother is serving aboard the Lincoln, said she has struggled to stay in contact with her mother throughout the deployment and is now preparing to start her senior year of high school without knowing when her mother will return. “I don’t know how to enjoy starting my senior year when my mom isn’t here, you know?” Sanders said. “Will she be back before homecoming? My birthday? Christmas? I have no idea, and that’s all that I think about.”
Manuel Guevara, whose son is also serving aboard the carrier, said his son sounded exhausted and worried during their last conversation. “I don’t want to worry that the circumstances of this deployment will get the best of my son, and he doesn’t make it back home,” Guevara said. “That’s an unbearable burden on my heart.”
As of Friday, the Navy had not provided a precise count of how many sailors aboard the Lincoln have attempted to go overboard or engaged in self-harm during the deployment. The White House had not issued additional comment beyond Trump’s remarks at Joint Base Andrews by the time he departed for New York.