Families of sailors from the USS Abraham Lincoln spoke out in San Diego about catastrophic conditions on board. After 259 days of deployment and 208 consecutive days at sea, the crew survives on half-cup rice rations, and a therapist warns of a collective psychological breakdown.
The facade of American military omnipotence is cracking from within. On Thursday, in a banquet hall in San Diego, families of sailors from the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln confronted Acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao and senior admirals, breaking the silence about the catastrophic conditions on the ship involved in the campaign against Iran. The reality that the Pentagon desperately tries to conceal has been laid bare: the American fleet is falling apart.
The carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has been deployed for 259 days, an incredible 208 of which have been spent consecutively at open sea. The human cost is catastrophic. Sailors survive on half-cup rice rations, and the ship's store has run out of soap after the logistics hub in Bahrain collapsed under the strain of a poorly conceived conflict. Families describe crews trapped in a dystopia of black mold, contaminated water, and ever-declining morale, as reported by MS NOW.
The ship's therapist warned several weeks ago that the crew is on the verge of a collective psychological breakdown. Yet, the political architects of this crisis offer only denial. U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth notoriously dismissed reports of starving sailors as fake news. Rear Admiral Douglas Verissimo fed families empty phrases about resilience, admitting that the Navy cannot provide any timeline for the exhausted crew's return home.
This degradation represents a systemic collapse of the Navy. During an exhausting 326-day deployment, the USS Gerald R. Ford experienced sewage system failures, forcing sailors to wait up to an hour for a functioning toilet. Recently, a suspicious 30-hour fire ravaged crew quarters on the Ford, strongly suggesting internal sabotage by a crew pushed beyond the limits of endurance.
Many desperate parents in San Diego voted for President Donald Trump precisely to avoid new foreign military adventures. Now they watch their children suffer on dangerous flight decks, fully aware that they are bombing a sovereign state for a cause they reject. One sailor's mother admitted she can no longer be proud of a military that kills innocent civilians.
The report on the state of American aircraft carriers was published by the Iranian newspaper Tehran Times, which regularly criticizes the U.S. military presence in the region and the Washington-Tel Aviv alliance in the war against Iran. Although the tone is highly critical, the details provided about deployment durations and shipboard conditions are based on family testimonies and on-the-ground reports.
