U.S. Navy: 8 suicide attempts among the crew of the carrier "Lincoln"
Eight U.S. Navy sailors assigned to the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group attempted suicide during a period that spanned the combat operations conducted by the ships in the war against Iran, as well as the period during which the carrier set a modern record for time at sea.
Acting Secretary of the Navy Hong Kao disclosed this previously unrevealed figure, according to CNN, in written responses to questions raised by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand regarding the morale and mental health of the Lincoln’s crew.
Kao clarified that no service members committed suicide during the deployment.
The suicide attempt rate among sailors in the Lincoln strike group was roughly consistent with the attempt rate across the entire active-duty U.S. Navy in 2024, the most recent year for which the Department of War has published suicide data.
The Navy recorded 356 suicide attempts among approximately 337,000 active-duty sailors that year.
In a letter dated Tuesday, Kao wrote to Gillibrand, a Democrat and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee: “Since the start of the Lincoln’s deployment, a total of eight suicide attempts have occurred within the strike group.”
He added that this number “includes the Lincoln’s crew, sailors from the carrier’s air wing, strike group personnel and destroyer squadron, accompanying destroyers, and all air wings aboard the ships.”
Between 6,000 and 7,000 U.S. Navy sailors were deployed as part of the Lincoln strike group, which comprised approximately six ships, while the aircraft carrier remained at sea for more than six months, conducting a high tempo of combat operations against Iran.
A U.S. military official told CNN that carrier strike groups on recent deployments have typically recorded one or two suicide attempts per year, noting that “eight suicide attempts is an extremely high number.”
He added that “the pressure from combat operations is much higher than from routine deployments. There are no port visits, constant alerts, and so on.”
According to Kao’s letter, the Lincoln was deployed with various mental health resources, including five chaplains, one behavioral health and prevention counselor aboard the ship, one psychiatrist, one clinical social worker, three behavioral health technicians, and one therapy service dog assigned to the intervention force.
CNN previously reported that two sailors from the Lincoln strike group, one from the carrier and another from a different ship, jumped into the sea during recent months.
Kao confirmed in his letter that one sailor from the air wing jumped from the ship in early August but was “quickly recovered” and received treatment from the Lincoln’s medical department.
He added: “In addition, one sailor attempted to jump into the sea in March, but shipmates prevented him from doing so. That sailor also received immediate medical care and later returned to his home port.”
A U.S. official told CNN that the Navy does not believe there is a link between the length of the deployment and thoughts of self-harm, and that incidents of people falling or jumping into the sea are not limited to this group.
One crew member serving aboard the Lincoln told CNN earlier that morale on the carrier was very low, stating that he had repeatedly heard about suicidal ideation among other crew members.
He added that repeated pressure issues also affected some of the ship’s essential facilities; toilets and water fountains around the vessel were frequently shut down, while hot water was often unavailable.
