Centcom commander visits USS Abraham Lincoln amid questions about conditions on ship
Centcom commander visits USS Abraham Lincoln amid questions about conditions on ship
Mira Bhakta Sun, August 16, 2026 at 9:50 PM UTC
4.2K
Adm. Brad Cooper, who leads the U.S. Central Command (Centcom), visited the USS Abraham Lincoln on Saturday amid concerns of the ship’s living conditions as well as the mental health of the service members aboard. The aircraft carrier has been docked in the Middle East for more than 260 days.
A statement released by Centcom on Saturday announced Cooper, who oversees the war with Iran, visited the ship as part of a 10-day trip where he visited Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
“The Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is a strong team of high-achieving Americans standing tall with immense, justified pride in everything they accomplished,” Cooper was quoted saying in the release. “History will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era.”
Centcom stated that the crew aboard the ship completed “thousands of combat flights in support of Operation Epic Fury, regional security missions and the ongoing U.S. naval blockade against Iran.”
The ship’s 5,000 sailors and Marines initially expected the deployment to end in May, but it was extended to its current tenure because — according to acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao — the mission “demanded it.”
Cooper also visited the ship in February along with special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who is President Trump’s son-in-law. At that time, Centcom stated the ship was in the region to “to support maritime security and stability.”
Advertisement
The USS Abraham Lincoln gained public attention following reports from news outlets of sailors attempting to jump off the aircraft carrier, as well as the ship’s poor living conditions — which included moldy showers and rotten food.
Cao announced Friday the ship would be coming home as part of a planned rotation with the USS George Washington taking its position. He claimed that reports from media outlets about the conditions on the Lincoln are trying to paint “our warriors as victims.”
In the days since the reports on declining conditions, congressional Democrats have pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Trump administration for more information about the mental and physical states of the crew members. A group of Democratic lawmakers also sent Cao a letter Friday, probing into conditions on the aircraft carrier.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) on Thursday also joined Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s (D-Conn.) call demanding an official, bipartisan visit to the carrier.
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill.
Source: “AOL Breaking”
