- Admiral Brad Cooper, leader of US Central Command, has praised the “resilience” of troops aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier following reports of mental health and supply challenges on the vessel.
- The ship, with roughly 5,000 sailors and Marines aboard, has been deployed in the Middle East since January, setting a record with more than 240 consecutive days at sea while supporting the U.S. war effort and naval blockade against Iran. It left its home port of San Diego in November and was later redirected to the Middle East.
- Cooper visited the ship this week and said in a statement on Sunday that the Lincoln had the lowest number of mental health cases of the Navy's 11 active aircraft carriers. He praised the warship’s leadership for prioritizing mental health and crew resilience.
- “History will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era,” Cooper said of the Lincoln strike group in a separate statement released Saturday.
- U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth brushed off concerns earlier this week, saying that reports about conditions on the ship were "completely misrepresented.” President Donald Trump has also dismissed concerns about the length of the ship's deployment, saying it was "not nearly long enough."
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