A sensational story claiming seven American sailors were killed in a knife-wielding brawl aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln has run smack into one rather significant problem, the United States military says it never happened.
U.S. Central Command issued an unusually blunt statement Thursday night declaring reports that sailors died aboard the aircraft carrier “FALSE” and accusing media outlets of spreading misinformation about the ship and its crew.
“Over the past 48 hours, multiple media outlets have reported several false claims related to USS Abraham Lincoln’s (CVN 72) deployment to the Middle East,” CENTCOM said.
“One report alleged seven Sailors died in a brawl aboard the aircraft carrier and others have recently suggested a spike in suicidal ideations.”
“These reports are FALSE.”
The most explosive version of the story appears to have originated in Iranian media. Iran’s state-run Press TV reported Tuesday that seven U.S. Navy personnel had supposedly been killed and others wounded during a violent confrontation aboard the carrier, citing Iran’s Tasnim News Agency. Press TV claimed a verbal dispute escalated into a fight involving knives or other bladed weapons.
CENTCOM says none of that happened. “No service members aboard the aircraft carrier have died,” the command said.
CENTCOM added that the one sailor who went overboard on Aug. 3 “was quickly and safely recovered.” The command also supplied numbers intended to paint a dramatically different picture of the crew’s performance and morale. The Abraham Lincoln has maintained an 84.4% crew reenlistment rate, according to CENTCOM, placing it among the highest of America’s aircraft carriers.
And this has hardly been a pleasure cruise. “The Sailors and Marines of the Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group remain resilient and resolved after more than 260 days at sea, 10,000 aircraft flights, and 1.5 million pounds of ordnance expended,” CENTCOM said.
“The rampant misreporting on Abraham Lincoln’s historic deployment is a disservice to our men and women in uniform and their loved ones,” the command added.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth separately pushed back Thursday against reports depicting conditions aboard the carrier as increasingly dire. Speaking to reporters during a visit to Panama, Hegseth said the situation had been “completely misrepresented.”
“We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment,” Hegseth said. “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, it’s incredible.”
The Iranian report about seven dead sailors is one thing. Separate reporting about the tremendous strain caused by the Lincoln’s marathon deployment is another.
Reuters reported Thursday that lawmakers have raised concerns about conditions aboard the carrier following reports from military publications describing problems involving supplies, plumbing and crew morale.
The Lincoln has now spent more than 260 days at sea, an extraordinary deployment after leaving San Diego last November and subsequently being sent to the Middle East.
Allegations from sailors’ families about mental-health struggles, shortages and other problems aboard the ship were reported by news outlets.
Those concerns have attracted attention from Democratic lawmakers, including Sens. Richard Blumenthal and Ruben Gallego.
And the Navy is preparing a change.
The USS George Washington is heading toward the Middle East and is expected to relieve the Abraham Lincoln. The Pentagon maintains the carrier rotation was planned rather than ordered in response to the recent controversy.
MY QUICK TAKE:
There’s quite a difference between “our sailors have been at sea too damn long” and “seven American sailors were killed in a knife fight.”
One deserves questions.
The other deserves a fact check — particularly when it comes bubbling out of the propaganda apparatus of the same Iranian regime these sailors have been confronting.
And here’s the part that shouldn’t get lost while Washington fights over the politics – 260 plus days at sea. Ten thousand flights. One-and-a-half million pounds of ordnance.
Those sailors and Marines have been doing the job America sent them there to do.
Ask tough questions about their living conditions. Ask whether the Navy has stretched them too far. Ask when they’re coming home.
But maybe don’t turn Iranian propaganda into their obituary while they’re still out there serving the country.
WIRE SOURCES:
- Fox News — “CENTCOM blasts ‘false’ reports about conditions aboard USS Abraham Lincoln”
- Reuters — “Hegseth says reports about poor conditions aboard carrier are misrepresented”
- New York Post — “Dire conditions reported aboard USS Abraham Lincoln as sailors try to jump overboard after longest deployment-ever at sea”
- Associated Press — “New aircraft carrier heads toward Mideast after reports of issues on long-deployed USS Lincoln”
