US disputes reports of trying conditions on carrier in Gulf

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has defended conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which as spent a record-breaking number of days at sea during a period of more than eight months with only brief stops at ports.

Hegseth called recent reporting in two military-focused outlets in the US, the Navy Times and the Stars and Stripes , "completely misrepresented."

The reports had quoted relatives of sailors recounting stories of poor conditions on board and even a thwarted attempt by a crewmember to throw themselves overboard.

The 5,000-person aircraft carrier left San Diego in November for what was scheduled to be a Pacific deployment.

It was subsequently rerouted to the Middle East ready for what the Trump White House called Operation Epic Fury, and has been in the Persian Gulf or the wider region since January amid the war with Iran .

"We make sure every ship, every crew, every captain has everything we can provide them at every single moment," Hegseth told reporters during a visit to Panama on Thursday. "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."

Longer deployments at sea, particularly in wartime with higher stress and danger levels and fewer chances for rest and recreation, have always been a challenge for the US Navy.

A day earlier, Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego said he was calling for an official oversight visit to the USS Abraham Lincoln by a bipartisal Senate Delegation to "investigate the alarming conditions."