Deprived at Sea

The Tribulations of the USS Abraham Lincoln

Satellite image of airstrip on Diego Garcia, an atoll located in the heart of the Indian Ocean, some 1,000 miles (1,600 km) south off India’s southern coast. Since the enforced depopulation of Diego Garcia in the years leading up to 1973, it has been used as a military base by the United States. Photo credit: NASA

The conflict with Iran continues to deliver its mean shocks to an increasingly doddering US imperium. Depleted munitions, depleted stocks of goodwill and, it would seem, a disruption in resupplying warships operating in the Middle East have become dents in a struggling war machine.

This month, the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, lengthily stationed in the Arabian Sea, caught the attention of naval observers with reports of mental distress and sheer desperation on the part of members of the 5,000-strong crew of sailors and Marines. Personnel had endured a nine-month deployment—a record—having made only one stop in Guam in mid-December since leaving San Diego. (The previous record had been set by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower in a stint lasting 206 days during the COVID-19 pandemic.) Shortages of fresh food and necessaries, the presence of contaminated water, broken latrines, plumbing problems, disruptions in the mail system and exhaustion were just some of the things noted. On 12 August, the Navy Times revealed instances where individual crew members had tried to jump overboard. Similar details were also reported in Stars and Stripes.

Meetings between concerned family members and acting Secretary of the Navy Hung Cao were convened earlier in the month regarding the crisis. At one virtual town hall meeting Vice Admiral Joseph Cahill, commander of Naval Surface Forces, conceded the strain placed on sailors and their families. “We hear you loud and clear [regarding] the impact this has on families, on service members and the long-term ability of us to stand, sustain our forces” health.” He outlined an approach involving counsellors and chaplains, linked with “Command Resilience Team Human Factors Councils,” a jabberwocky designation intended to cover, according to Navy policy, “human factors that impact the wellness of individuals within the command and identify primary prevention efforts to reduce relevant risks(s).” This involved, Cahill elaborated with little assuredness, “the unit understanding and sitting down with sailors individually with their Human Factors Councils and having a conversation about where they’re at in the moment in time.”

Other vicissitudes were given the managerial heave-ho. The blocking of toilets in parts of the ship had arisen because of a “stubborn clog” (seemingly an understatement), though these had been addressed by the sailors over time. Mould that had been detected in the showers was also in hand, with industrial hygienists used to test the bathrooms to ensure the adequate functioning of fans and the flow of air.

The reason for the punishing spell lay in yet another unforeseen aspect of the war with Tehran: its ability to strike at logistics hubs in the Gulf region. Most critically, Iran successfully struck Naval Support Activity Bahrain in Manama, headquarters of the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet in the opening days of battle. Over a dozen buildings, two AN/GSC-52B satellite communications terminals, and a communications facility, were destroyed. In June, the Wall Street Journal noted that US officials had begun “reevaluating” the American footprint in the region as a result of the damage inflicted on the country’s “sole naval base in the Middle East—along with hits to at least 20 US sites across the region.”

The pressing threat of Iranian threats on other ports in the Gulf region necessitated the decision by the Pentagon to scour for other more distant supply options. Diego Garcia, the joint US-UK facility located to the south of the Maldives, became an option. This redeployment certainly caught the interest of Tehran, given an attempted strike on the island with ballistic missiles on 20 March.

Shifting focus to Diego Garcia away from Bahrain precipitated its fair share of headaches. “When Bahrain was no longer a port for logistics, food and mail,” reasoned Vice Admiral Douglas Verissimo to attendees at the townhall meeting, “all of the gear that was there when the shooting started got stuck there.” This presented “an initial very large backlog” and “also caused us to, under very contested logistics, very difficult and long supply lines.” Priorities had to be sorted: first, food, followed by important items for the ship’s store, such as toothpaste and shampoo, then the supply of mail. Ensuring a fresh supply of fresh food was problematic, given spoliation on route.

Never one to let bad news inconvenience him, President Donald Trump seemed untroubled. In remarks to reporters on the matter, the increasingly detached chief magistrate of the Republic felt that the deployment had not gone on for “nearly long enough.” He had also been reassured by an unnamed retired admiral that the Lincoln was “beautifully maintained and beautifully taken care of.” Acting Secretary Cao had also mangled matters in his 14 August statement, declaring with evident irritation that “our force and their families are not victims. They are the epitome of American strength and resilience.” Irresponsible members of the media, however, had tried “to paint our warriors as victims. Not only is that dishonest but it takes away from the focus on the enemy and the threat it poses against our nation, people, and the way of life.” Rather than conceding how serious matters were on the Lincoln, Cao simply referenced a negligible number of “mental health cases” that had been treated with no loss of life and claimed that meals had merely been adjusted to cope with the lack of fresh supplies. Calls made to family members of the crew “were limited when the operational threat was too high.”

On 22 August, crew members of the Lincoln finally received news of a scheduled port call, with a possible planned rest and recreation stop in Thailand come early September. “The ship,” announced Senator Jack Reed, the top-ranking Democrat on the Armed Service Committee, “is scheduled to return to its homeport in coming weeks.” The Japan-based carrier USS George Washington is the intended replacement. Its mission will be as misguided and cloudy as the vessel it has replaced.