USS George Washington Reaches Middle East to Relieve USS Lincoln

The aircraft carrier USS George Washington is now operating in the Middle East, relieving the USS Abraham Lincoln after a deployment that set a record for time at sea, the U.S. military announced Thursday. U.S. Central Command said the Asia-based carrier arrived Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.

The Lincoln left San Diego in November and reached the Middle East in January, spending nearly nine months at sea, AP reported. The ship set a record for uninterrupted time at sea, more than 250 days. Reports from the ship described crew stress, poor mental health and shortages of food and hygiene products. Gulf News, citing the Wall Street Journal, reported on Aug. 14 that the relief had been planned before the latest welfare concerns surfaced. Sailors, relatives and lawmakers reported shortages of fresh food, milk and toiletries, along with plumbing and sanitation problems, Gulf News said, while the Navy and Pentagon rejected the claim that the ship was abandoned or deprived of essential supplies.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the reports about conditions were “completely misrepresented,” AP reported. He spoke with the Lincoln’s crew last week, and Adm. Brad Cooper, the head of Central Command, visited over the weekend. Cooper wrote in a Wall Street Journal editorial that the crew “delivered a performance for the ages, and now you are going home.” In a statement after the visit, he said the deployment would be recorded as “one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era.”

President Trump downplayed the reports, calling nearly nine months at sea a “good period of time” and saying “we’ve had them out there much longer,” AP said. He cited an unnamed retired admiral who said the Lincoln was “beautifully maintained and beautifully taken care of.” Several Democratic lawmakers have demanded accountability from the Defense Department. Sen. Richard Blumenthal asked the Pentagon for answers about conditions aboard, according to Gulf News.

The Navy is enforcing a reimposed blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz. Hegseth has said it can be maintained “indefinitely,” AP reported, and the administration has not said how it plans to end the war. It is unclear when the Lincoln will return to the United States or whether it will stop at a port along the way; the trip takes just over a month.

The rotation has a cost in the Pacific. With the George Washington’s arrival, the USS George H.W. Bush is also in the Middle East, leaving Asia without an American carrier strike group at a time when China has shown more aggression, AP said. AP said the gap may be short-lived if the Navy deploys another carrier within a couple of months. Analysts told AP that open-ended Iran operations are stretching sailors, while the administration is pulling back from the Asia-Pacific to focus on the Western Hemisphere.

Typical carrier deployments run far shorter than the Lincoln’s. Gulf News reported that the ship had gone roughly 200 days without a port call, against a usual interval of 30 to 45 days. The Navy has disputed some of the characterizations of the welfare reports, and Gulf News said the full extent of the shortages and mental health problems remains contested by military leaders.