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By Dan Gooding
Associate News Editor
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A United States Navy aircraft carrier is set to be dispatched to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln, amid growing concerns around crew morale and conditions on the vessel after over 260 days at sea.
The U.S. is sending the USS George Washington to the Middle East, after it departed Vietnam earlier this week.
Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Navy for further comment via email Thursday afternoon.
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"Long deployments are hard on the servicemembers and their families. I remember our soldiers doing 18-month tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it was excruciatingly difficult," Republican Nebraska Representative Don Bacon told Newsweek Thursday. "I am glad the USS Abraham Lincoln will soon be replaced by the USS George Washington. I thank the sailors for their service and clearly their sacrifice. Our aircraft carriers are indispensable to our national security and to countering Iran in the Strait of Hormuz.”
The Lincoln crew was deployed in November 2025, before being redirected to the Middle East to assist in Operation Epic Fury—the joint U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran which began in February.
The vessel has made very few port calls, and in recent days reports have surfaced of poor conditions and declining mental well-being among crew members, including attempts to jump overboard, with lawmakers calling for action and an investigation into what has taken place on the vessel.
In a statement to Newsweek Wednesday, the Navy said that it takes the health and well-being of its personnel seriously.
"Based on information available to the command, we have not identified an increase in reported suicidal ideation or suicide attempts aboard the ship," a spokesperson said. "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."
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Why Is It Important?
Unlike most U.S. carriers, George Washington is permanently assigned to the Pacific region and serves as the Navy's forward-deployed carrier associated with the 7th Fleet. The Navy describes it as a symbol of the U.S. commitment to maintaining a "free and open Indo-Pacific."
That means if the ship moves toward the Middle East to relieve Abraham Lincoln, it would represent a notable shift of U.S. naval firepower from Asia to another theater at a time when Washington is trying to balance concerns about China, North Korea, Iran and regional conflicts simultaneously.
Hegseth Wants Ships Rotated, Despite Calling Claims "Fake News", "Misrepresentation"
Democratic California Representative Mike Levin said in a statement to Newsweek on Wednesday that personnel now in their ninth month of deployment deserve rest.
"When families spoke up in April, Secretary Hegseth brushed it off as ‘fake news,’ but these service members aren't lying to the people who love them. They answered the highest call there is, and this is how they are being treated?" Levin said.
Speaking Thursday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the situation had been "completely misrepresented."
"We make sure that every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment," Hegseth told reporters. "Some deployments are longer than others, and I have more respect and gratitude for those sailors than anybody.
"What they do in those high seas in those austere conditions with less port calls is incredible. Americans don't understand what it's like to do that."
The secretary said he wanted to see ships rotated as quickly as possible.
What Is the USS George Washington?
The USS George Washington is a Nimitz-class nuclear-powered aircraft carrier commissioned in 1992. It is more than 1,000 feet long and can carry around 90 aircraft, including fighter jets, electronic warfare aircraft, helicopters, and airborne early warning planes. Its two nuclear reactors allow it to operate for years without refueling.
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What Is the George Washington Doing Now?
A Navy official told reporters that the USS George Washington was currently transiting the Strait of Malacca, placing it on a route toward the Indian Ocean.
As of early August 2026, the George Washington Carrier Strike Group had just completed a port visit to Da Nang, Vietnam, followed by a joint search-and-rescue exercise with Vietnamese forces.
The Navy said the strike group was operating in the U.S. 7th Fleet area of responsibility and described the carrier as its "premier forward-deployed aircraft carrier."
The deployment could leave the Pacific without a U.S. aircraft carrier for an undetermined period.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Jason Lemon and Gray R. Thomas
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