The odyssey is over, for a mission that seemed endless. With the entire crew exhausted, after 322 days at sea. The situation for the over five thousand sailors and marines on board the American aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, at sea for more than ten months, of which five were at war against Iran, had become increasingly worrying. In the past few hours the US aircraft carrier arrived in San Diego, California, at the Naval Air Station North Island base.
The USS Abraham Lincoln left the city in November 2025: it had been in the Middle East for months. The ship spent an exceptionally long period at sea, which caused numerous logistical problems. News that emerged in recent months on the crew’s conditions had described several problems on board: food shortages, plumbing failures and many cases of psychological distress among sailors, including at least two suicide attempts.
“My husband is scared, he thinks he will be dishonorably discharged”
In one case, a sailor’s wife said her husband tried to jump overboard after his tour of duty at sea kept getting longer. “He’s scared. He thinks he’s going to be dishonorably discharged and that just because he was exhausted, his 13-year career is ruined,” she said. In another case, also revealed by the wife of a military man, the husband was involved in an accident on board the Lincoln, during which he prevented a crew member from jumping overboard, grabbing him and bringing him back to the deck.
The mission and the inconveniences on board
The vessel, a Nimitz class, left San Diego, California, on Nov. 21, 2025, for a mission in the South China Sea. From there it was diverted towards the Middle East in view of the start of the offensive by the United States and Israel against Iran on February 28th. The deployment, initially scheduled to end in May for a total of seven months, has progressively lengthened to become the longest ever carried out by a US aircraft carrier in the modern era.
As the weeks went by, according to various testimonies, the hardships for the military increased: reduced food supplies, borderline hygienic conditions, exhausting shifts. The relatives made public what was happening on board, as the military could not do so directly.
The case had also turned into a political attack against Donald Trump and his management of the war on Iran. Democrats in the US Congress had asked for clarification on the living conditions on board the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, after reports of shortages of basic necessities, hygiene problems and a deterioration of mental health among the approximately five thousand crew members.
On Wednesday, October 7, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth flew aboard the USS Lincoln, and awarded the crew the “Presidential Unit Citation”, the highest honor that can be given to a US Navy unit. During the months on mission the aircraft carrier had docked only three times: a month after departure at the US base in Guam, during the return journey, for five days in Pattaya, Thailand, and then again for a day in Guam.