📰 Curated from Associated Press
📖 Read full article→New aircraft carrier heads toward Mideast after reports of issues on long-deployed USS Lincoln - AP News
LifestyleBy Konstantin Toropin8/14/20261 min read
The Pacific-based aircraft carrier USS George Washington has begun heading toward the Middle East as reports have emerged of mental health and supply issues aboard the long-deployed USS Abraham Lincoln. The Lincoln has been supporting the U.S. war against Ira…
✨ Key Highlights
- The USS George Washington, accompanied by a cruiser and a destroyer, has departed Da Nang, Vietnam, and is transiting the Strait of Malacca toward the Indian Ocean, reportedly to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Middle East.
- The Lincoln has supported the U.S. war against Iran with a record uninterrupted deployment of more than 240 days, prompting concerns about strain on service members and the ship's equipment.
- Reports of mental health and supply problems aboard the Lincoln have led several Democratic lawmakers to seek Pentagon accountability, though Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Thursday the conditions were "completely misrepresented."
- Although hostilities between the U.S. and Iran have eased recently, the Navy has reimposed a blockade on Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, which Hegseth said could be maintained "indefinitely," with no clear plan offered for winding down the conflict.
- The George Washington's redeployment would leave the Pacific without a U.S. carrier presence for an undetermined period, reflecting the Trump administration's view of China as "a settled force" needing deterrence rather than the top global adversary emphasized under the Biden administration.
WASHINGTON (AP) The Pacific-based aircraft carrier USS George Washington has begun heading toward the Middle East as reports have emerged of mental health and supply issues aboard the long-deployed U