The top officer for U.S. Central Command visited the USS Abraham Lincoln on Saturday, as families of sailors onboard continue to report poor conditions and low morale.
Adm. Brad Cooper’s visit to the Lincoln was part of a 10-day tour in the region, meeting with troops and commanders, as well as allies in the Middle East. He spent several hours on the ship, according to a CENTCOM spokesperson, the one ship he visited during the tour. The stop on the Lincoln, which happened midday Saturday per dates shown in video on the ship, came days after several reports from the families of sailors and Marines of food shortages, water issues, broken showers and laundry, and other issues. Family members say that morale is low after months at sea and the crew’s mental health is strained. Both Military Times and Stars and Stripes reported cases of sailors attempting to jump overboard.
The Lincoln is on its ninth month deployed, having left port in late November 2025. Originally deployed to the Pacific region, it was ordered to the Middle East at the start of the year. Its last port visit was a two-day stop in Guam. It has spent more than 250 days away from home and all of 2026 so far at sea. The ship has taken part in combat operations against Iran since the start of the war on Feb. 28 and helped enforce the American blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Cooper’s arrival came a day after the military confirmed that the USS Abraham Lincoln would return home soon, with the USS George Washington deploying to replace it. In a statement on Friday, Aug. 14, Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao called some media reports about the ship “dishonest” but did say that “a small number of mental health cases were treated” aboard the ship. His statement was the highest-level acknowledgement of mental health incidents onboard the Lincoln. This past week, the Pentagon and White House pushed back on reports about the situation onboard the Lincoln, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying conditions on the carrier had been “completely misrepresented.”
Separately, the Navy said in a statement to Task & Purpose that it is sending “additional resiliency counselors and social workers to augment” support services onboard the ship.
Cooper previously visited the USS Abraham Lincoln in February, prior to the start of the war. His new visit lasted several hours and involved an address to “the entire Lincoln team” where he thanked them.
“The Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is a strong team of high-achieving Americans standing tall with immense, justified pride in everything they accomplished,” Cooper said, per CENTCOM’s announcement. “History will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era.”
Video shared by CENTCOM shows Cooper meeting with a number of crew members, including members from Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 14 and Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314, both assigned to the carrier as part of Carrier Air Wing 9. During his visit, Cooper also presented awards to some service members.
Cooper’s 10-day trip included stops in Israel, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
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