USS George Washington heads to Middle East to replace Lincoln

The USS George Washington is heading to the Middle East to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln after families of sailors raised concerns about a prolonged deployment, limited supplies and mental strain aboard the carrier.

President Donald Trump on Friday dismissed those concerns when asked at Joint Base Andrews whether the deployments had gone on too long and whether he was worried about troops’ mental health.

“No. No. No — not nearly long enough,” Trump told reporters.

Trump said the Lincoln is “moving right now or very shortly” and that “it’s being replaced with another very similar ship.” U.S. officials told NBC News and CBS News that the USS George Washington is expected to replace the Lincoln in the Middle East. CBS News reported that the Wall Street Journal first reported the carrier swap.

The Lincoln has been at sea for 244 consecutive days, according to NBC News, with its last port visit in Guam in December. A typical carrier deployment lasts about six to seven months and includes regular port stops to refresh crews and replenish food. CBS News reported that the Lincoln has been deployed for almost nine months, first to the Pacific and then to the Middle East ahead of the Iran war.

More than 50,000 troops have been deployed to support the U.S. and Israel-led war with Iran, according to NBC News. U.S. military leaders have privately raised concerns inside the Pentagon and White House about low morale and widespread fatigue among service members deployed for months to support the war, two U.S. officials told NBC News.

Families have described deteriorating conditions aboard the Lincoln, which carries about 5,000 sailors and Marines. Danielle Rappa, whose son is deployed on the ship, told NBC News the situation was like a “scene out of the ‘American Horror Story,’ where… everybody’s dead, but they don’t know it yet.” She said his mood changed as the deployment dragged on. “Where he had been very positive, he started getting very dark,” she said.

Melanie Stowe, whose daughter serves aboard the Lincoln, told NBC News that the “deployment date keeps getting moved up, and then it gets moved back, and it gets moved up.”

Both Stowe and Rappa said their children told them about a fellow sailor jumping overboard. U.S. officials said a sailor assigned to the Lincoln’s air wing went overboard in early August, was quickly rescued and treated, then transferred off the ship for further medical care. CBS News reported that the Navy is investigating the incident and that the circumstances of how and why the sailor fell overboard remain unclear.

The Navy pushed back on reports of a broader mental health crisis. “We have not identified an increase in reported suicidal ideation or suicide attempts aboard the ship,” a Navy spokesperson told CBS News. “We take every service member’s well-being seriously and have religious, medical and mental health professionals available to assess and address concerns as they arise.” A Navy official told CBS News there has been a decrease in suicidal ideation cases as the deployment has continued.

Officials also acknowledged supply delays. A U.S. official told NBC News that the Lincoln is operating in “a highly contested environment where traditional supply hubs in the Middle East were disrupted by combat actions.” The official said leadership prioritized “mission-critical supplies: first food, then hygiene items, then mail,” and that current reports from the ship confirm “continuous access to clean water, functional AC, and healthy meal options.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday that reports about the ship were being “completely misrepresented.” Speaking aboard the USS Gridley in Panama, he said, “We make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment. Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody.”

Several Democratic lawmakers are seeking answers. Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut wrote to Hegseth and acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao that reports about conditions aboard the Lincoln “warrant immediate attention” and raise questions about “whether the Navy can sustain the operational tempo now being demanded of its carrier force.” Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona, a Marine Corps veteran, said on X that the Navy must allow a bipartisan congressional delegation to visit the carrier “to conduct oversight investigation into this horrible situation.”

CBS News reported that the Japan-based George Washington left Yokosuka in May for a Pacific patrol and was seen this week moving west through the Strait of Malacca. Once it reaches the Middle East, it will join the USS George H.W. Bush carrier and leave the United States without a carrier in the Pacific, CBS News reported.