DENVER — Colorado Congressman Jason Crow is demanding answers about conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed in the Middle East during the conflict with Iran for over 260 days — a modern-day record.
Over 200 family members voiced concerns about food shortages, low hygiene supplies, and broken toilets that have led to mental health challenges among sailors and reports of multiple attempts to jump overboard.
Crow joined a letter to the Acting Secretary of the Navy asking what additional resources are being provided for the sailors.
"We haven't received a response yet, which unfortunately is more common than not these days with the Trump administration, where they don't even respond to requests for information by Congress," Crow said. "Sometimes don't even show up to provide testimony and briefings on really important matters, which of course makes it hard for us to do our job, which is appropriate money, build a military, purchase new equipment, do all the things that Congress is obligated to do."
Crow, a veteran Army Ranger who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, also addressed how adversaries are responding.
"It's not a great situation, and it sends a message of weakness," Crow said. "Iran has come right out and said they're just going to wait us out. They think they're in the power position here because they've seen how we've reduced our ammunition stockpiles, how our ships and our aircraft carriers and our fighter wings are way past their time on station."
President Donald Trump dismissed concerns about deteriorating conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln, saying the deployment had in fact not nearly been long enough.
There is still no return date or news of a resupply for the aircraft carrier.
Editor's note on Aug. 20, 2026: This story has been edited to correct a statement in the lede, namely that the USS Abraham Lincoln has been at sea for a record number of days. The USS Abraham Lincoln does not hold that record. That record is held by the World War II Essex-class aircraft carrier USS Hornet, which spent 495 days operating in the Pacific without returning to a mainland U.S. port.
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